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LIBERIA, 



A.S I FOUIS'D IT, 



IN 1858 



REY. 



BY y 

ALEXANDER M. COWAN 



AGENT KSNTUUKY COLONIZATION SOCIETT. 







jiy^. 



'^ FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY. 

A. G. HODGES ..... PRINTER. 
1868. 






'S o 



A 



FREF^OE. 



I have labored for twelve years in the African Coloniza- 
tion cause with mind, heart and body. I found, as time 
passed on, the published progress of Liberia, (which her 
Annual State Treasurer's Report will indicate,) did not meet, 
in my mind, the vivid descriptions given of the agricultural 
condition of the people. I came to the conclusion to visit 
that land, and examine it for myself. What I wanted to 
know of it, the reader will readily learn, as he reads the 
journal herewith fufnished to him. As to my ability and 
faithfulness in making the examination, he is able to judge 
for himself, without much study. Whether I have done jus- 
tice to the Liberians in my statements of themselves and 
their country, and have regarded the expediency and wel- 
fare of the black people in emigrating to Liberia as their fu- 
ture home, can also be correctl^^ determined on, if the reader 
will decide with the same character of candor that the 
writer has used in writing. Both sides of the Atlantic 
ocean demand candor and truthfulness in stating and in 
examining the facts pertaining to Liberia. For the colored 
man's future interest, who is dwelling in this country, is to 
be faithfully regarded, as well as Africa's civilization. The 
minutisB of information is therefore given, that the colored 
man's choice may be made to his satisfaction, if he puts his 
foot on Liberia's shore as his home. He is told what he will 
find in Liberia without any fear of its being contradicted by 
his own examination, or that of another, in what pertains 
to his state as a free man; and a man, that has claims upon 
the soil he makes his home, to give to him and his family a 
good support as the returns of his industry. 

I take this opportunity of expressing my great indebted- 
ness to President Benson, and other officers of the Liberian 



4 PREFACE. 

Republic, for readily giving me access to official documents, 
or copies of those I asked for, to aid me in getting the infor- 
mation of their Republic that I deemed necessary to have. 
And the copies of such papers showed the penmanship of 
clerks that guaranteed well written official documents would 
be handed down to future generations in their land. 



Greneral Hemarks. 



We make the following statements for the information of 
some of our readers who are not posted up in the history of 
African Colonization. They are worth noticing, and cannot 
well be incorporated in the journal. 

The first emigrants, eighty-six in number, to Africa from 
the United States, went in 1820. The proportions were, ^ 
sixty-eight from the free states, and eighteen from the slave 
states. They all landed at Sherbro, south east from Sierra 
Leone. Ten ol the number returned to the United States; 
seventeen died by the acclimating fever; twenty-four settled 
in Sierra Leone; and the balance, thirty-five, moved down 
to Monrovia, in 1822; and after living there, from two to 
twenty-eight years, died. The next emigration was in 1821. 
Thirty-three free blacks went from Virginia and Maryland. 
None went from the free states. None but free born blacks 
went to Liberia until May, 1823. In that year, Daniel Mur- 
ray of Maryland, and George Mason of Virginia, sent, each 
one, an emancipated slave. Up to July, 1827, six hundred 
and fifty-five emigrants had gone from the north and the 
south to Liberia; nine of them w^ere emancipated slaves. 
From 1828, the number of the emancipated, to go to Liberia, 
increased every year, until now, that class of emigrants 
greatly outnumber the free blacks who go there. Every year 
since 1820, emigrants have been sent to Liberia by the Amer- 
ican Colonization Society. As all is done by charity, in the 
way of aiding the emigrants to get to Liberia, and all is a 
voluntary act on the part of the emigrant to go or to stay 
here, the number of emigrants will vary each year. In one 
year, 1839, only forty-seven went. In 1832, seven hundred 
and ninety-six went. The abolition excitement was the 
cause of it. In 1851, six hundred and seventy-five went. In 
1853, seven hundred and eighty-three went. But be they 
many or few, all go as their predecessors went, inexperi- 
enced in living to themselves, and have removed from them, 
the regulating presence, and all controling powder of the 
white man. They go in their civilization, the result of their 
observance of civilization.^ They necessarily differ among 
themselves in their knowledge and experience in providing 



6 GENERAL REMARKS. 

for their daily wants, and also, in their value of freedom, and 
their motives in settling in Liberia. A great difference is 
found in their pecuniary means to commence their life there, 
and a still greater difference is seen in their economy and 
judgment in using those means for their own benefit. Some 
of them have to make an entire change in all their long 
established reliances for self care, and that of their house- 
holds ; while all the community have to act in all matters, 
civil, political, national and social, by an untried wisdom in 
their race. It is without doubt, an experiment to build up a 
name, and a habitation for themselves and their posterity. 

No matter what may be the moral or social causes that 
induce persons to leave their birth places to settle in another 
land that is new, and to be subject to their own modes of 
life, there will be some of the number that will soon become 
dissatisfied, and decry the land of their adoption. The Lord 
told Moses that he would bring the Israelites "unto a good 
land, and large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey." 
But when the Israelites came to the land, many of them said 
to Moses, "wherefore have ye made us to come up out of 
Eg3^pt to bring us in unto this evil place? It is no place of 
seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is 
their any water to drink." It is with these impressions I 
went to Liberia to look at her state and condition. 

The settlements of civilized blacks are far between on the 
Coast. This was, apparently, bad policy, but necessity led 
to its arrangement. The intermediate country has been 
purchased — and it gives an extent of coast territory that it is 
not easy for the Liberian government, with her present re- 
sources, to manage. There are two good reasons for the 
purchases. 1. The land owned by different distinct tribes 
on the coast from Sierra Leone to Cape Palmas Territory, is 
brought under a civilized government of blacks. 2. The 
slave trade, which for centuries has been carried on exten- 
sively within this limit of country, is broken up by the refu- 
sal of this civilized government to let the slaver go up the 
rivers for slaves, or for the tribes to bring down their slaves 
to sell them to the slavers. 



Liberia^ as I foiand it. 



In giving an account of my visit to Liberia, it is proper, 
for the information of those most likely to go there, that 1 
should commence in my tour at Baltimore, Maryland, with 
the ship. It is due to the memory of John Stevens, Esq., 
late of Talbot county, Maryland, to state that he made 
an unsolicited offer to the American Colonization Society of 
$36,000, to build a ship to convey free colored emigrants 
from the United States to Liberia. This sum had been de- 
signed by Mr. Stevens, as a legacy to his daughter, Caro- 
line. But she having died, he gave the money to the Afri- 
can Colonization cause; and a like sum to his only living 
child, Mary. At the request of Mr. Stevens, the ship, when 
built, was named Maiy Caroline Stevens. The interest on 
the $36,000, given by Mr. Stevens, made his donation $37,- 
000. The Maryland State Colonization Society advanced 
$5,000, to be refunded by the ship's taking emigrants from 
Maryland to Liberia, from time to time, to cover that sum. 
These two sums make $42,000, the cost of the ship, which 
was built in 1856. Her water tanks, cooking apparatus, 
and library, were donations of different individuals. The 
ship is well built, and combines fast sailing, with comforta- 
ble arrangements for the emigrants and their property. Her 
tonage is seven hundred and thirteen tons. Her lower hold 
will take in about two thousand five hundred barrels of flour 
or pork. The second deck is set apart for the accommoda- 
tion of the emigrants. It may be called the steerage cabin. 
It is one hundred and eighteen feet long, twenty-nine feet 
broad, and seven and a half feet high. Within this space, 
are forty births, put up on each side of the ship; twelve in 
the midships, forward, and eight in the midships, aft; ma- 
king in all, one hundred. Each birth is six feet long, and 
four feet wide. Two persons are allowed to each birth, ex- 
cept in cases of parents having small children. Only two 
hundred and forty emigrants are allowed by an United States 
law, to go in her, to Liberia, in each voyage. This law was 
passed as security to the blacks, that there should not, at 
any time, be an unsafe number for comfort and health on 
board of the ship. All the fixtures for births are planed, 
painted, and put up substantially. The emigrants, on going 



8 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

on board the ship, select their births, and furnish their own 
bedding, which they take w^th them on shore, when they 
reach Liberia. It will be observed, that this place furnishes 
sufficient room for the baggage they will need for the voy- 
age, while their other property will be placed in the lower 
hold of the ship, to have it out of the w^ay dm'ing the voy- 
age. This space also gives room to sit, sew, read and talk, 
and for the children to play, without any danger to life or 
limb. Morning and evening religious services are here held 
by themselves; and on the Sabbath, they here meet for pub- 
lic worship, if the w^eather does not permit them to assemble 
on the upper deck. During our passage, we had public wor- 
ship on every Sabbath ; and the morning and evening prayer 
was offered to God, who "owns the sea, as well as the dry 
land." 

There are three permanent tin ventilators to furnish fresh 
air to this steerage room, if I may so call it. Besides these 
ventilators, there are two covered frames, with two doors, 
one on the opposite side to the other, over the forward and 
after hatches, with a flight of stairs at each hatchway, 
adapted to the aged and young to go up and down with 
safet3^ The doors are always open, except when it rains; 
then the one that the rain requires to be shut, is closed, while 
the other is open to give fresh air. Then immediately over 
the centre of this steerage cabin is the main hatchway, seven 
feet square, which is kept open night and day, except when 
it rains, which increases the means for fresh air to those be- 
low. Independent of these arrangements for fresh air, there 
are conductors to furnish fresh air constantly, to all parts of the 
ship from which foul,,aircan arise. In the passenger cabin 
floor, are ten deck lights, (glass.) fifteen inches long, and 
seven inches wide, to give light to that part of the steerage 
that runs under the cabin. On the main deck, there are ten 
such lights, six inches by three inches, each, for the same 
purposes, to the other parts of the steerage. Lamps are 
hung up to give light to all parts of it during each night of 
the voyage. Every morning, under the directions of the 
mates of the ship, this steerage room is cleaned out, and all 
dirt is carried up and throwai overboard. On the upper deck 
forward, there are private houses built for the accommoda- 
tion of the emigrants. The cabin of the ship has state rooms to 
accommodate sixteen passengers with every necessar}' com- 
fort for a sea voyage, including a good sized bathing room. A 
library of choice reading, to suit the religious and literary 
taste of all passengers, is at their free use, while inmates of 
the ship. There are two iron w^ater tanks containing over 
eight thousand gallons of M^ater, and twelve iron bound 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 9 

oak hogsheads, containing rising of three thousand gallons 
of water. These tanks and hogsheads are filled with the 
best of water that Baltimore affords, just before the ship 
sails on her voyage. When the ship is ready to sail from 
Liberia, the supply of water needed for the voyage back is 
taken in from her best watering places. The tanks and 
casks are emptied and cleansed, and the tanks whitewashed, 
ever}^ voyage the ship makes. The ship is in charge of a 
Captain, who is selected for his suitableness to sail the ves- 
sel, to govern his crew, and exercise a judicious and necessary 
authority over the emigrants, to preserve order among them, 
and keep them out of harms way while on ship board. He 
has two mates to assist him in his duties, who are selected 
for their qualifications to do so. The sailors before the mast 
are twelve in number. It is not to be expected, from the 
wandering habits of sailors, that the same crew can be had 
for every voyage of the ship. Yet, such is the character of 
the ship, and such is the intention to make her strictly 
No. 1 in her arrangements for officers, discipline, provisions, 
and pay, that she will command a better than an average 
crew that ships of her tonage have. There is a steward at- 
tached to the cabin, who is confined in his duties to it, and on 
whom rests the preparation of pastry tor the table. The 
cook cooks for the emigrants, as well as for the cabin pas- 
sengers and crew. He has been selected as a permanent 
official in his department, from his long experience in other 
vessels which have sailed from Baltimore to Liberia. He is 
a colored man. The provisions for the voyage, and for the 
six months support of the emigrants, after their arrival in 
Liberia, are laid in by Dr. James Ij^ll, of Baltimore, the 
General Agent of the American Coloiroation Society, to take 
charge of the ship, her repairs, (fee. The provisions for the 
emigrants, during the voyage, are put in charge of the cook, 
under the supervision of the Captain. The emigrants are 
divided off into suitable messes for number, always placing 
the children with their parents in the mess. The cook gave 
to me this weekl}^ bill of fare — 

Sabbath — Flour, beef, fish or pork, butter, and potatoes. 

Monday — Beef and potatoes, 

Tuesday — Pork, beans, bean soup, cheese, and potatoes. 

Wednesday — Bacon, sour crout, and potatoes. 

Thursday — Flour, beef, pork, butter, and potatoes. 

Friday — Pork, peas, pea soup, cheese, and potatoes. 

Saturday — Beef, pork, rice, and potatoes. 

Each day they have coffee or tea, and molasses or sugar. 
Each head man of a mess is furnished with a ticket by the 
cook, to come at a specified hour, with his ticket, to draw for 



10 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

each one in his mess, flour, molasses, sugar, butter and 
cheese. In these articles, there is a limitation. In the other 
articles mentioned, there is no limitation but the appetite of 
the person. The ticket is to prevent imposition in drawing 
twice at the same meal. Twice a day their meals are serv- 
ed out to them. At the ringing of the cook's bell the head 
man of each mess goes up ibr the suppl}' of each one in his 
mess. Each one in the mess has a pint of molasses, or a pound 
of sugar, as it is preferred, each day ; and one pound of flour is 
given to each one in the mess on the two days of the week it is 
served out. The mess may make up the flour into bread or 
pudding, as they prefer it to be cooked, and the cook cooks 
it. A barrel of corn meal and a barrel of ship biscuit are 
standing open in the steerage for all the emigrants to take 
from when they please. The barrel is renewed when it is 
emptied. If a mess, or any individual in the mess, wants 
corn bread, it is made up and presented to the cook, at the 
time he rings his bell for that purpose, in the morning, in a 
sheet iron pan furnished to each mess. Each mess knows his 
pan. When this bread is baked, the bell announces it must 
be taken away. The oven will hold the bread made up 
from a barrel of meal. All the emigrants are furnished with 
tin plates, cups, coffee pots, knives and forks, spoons, pepper 
boxes, salt cellars, tin basons, tin pans, and large pans to 
wash these articles in when used. All these articles they 
take with them when they go on shore in Liberia. To each 
mess is furnished a can that will hold the water each mess 
is allowed for drink each day. Those in the mess over 
twelve years of age have three quarts each day, and those 
that are twelve, and under, have one quart each day. The 
ship is furnished withi^ full supply of medicines for the voy- 
age. The Captain, from his experience, is prepared to at- 
tend to any case that may ordinarily occur among the pas- 
sengers, crew, or emigrants. The sea sickness, in general, 
lasts from two to four days — in a few cases, a longer time — 
but all make up their losses in the provision line by a good 
appetite. The kind hearted cook is not displeased at this 
change, for he has at least three female emigrant helpers, 
who, either from kind regards to him, or from love to some 
extra bits that are prepared for the cabin passengers, will 
stand by him with a smiling look and ready hand to help 
him. Some persons in this world know how to take special 
care of themselves, even if the skin be colored. The steer- 
age passage from Baltimore to any place the ship lands emi- 
grants at in Liberia, is $35 ; this includes provisions on the 
voyage; children, $17 50. For passage, and six months 
support in Liberia from the time of landing there, and med- 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 11 

ical aid when needed during the six months, $70 is required 
of each emigrant. 

When the ship leaves Cape Henry she enters on the 
broad Atlantic sea, "where men go down in ships to do 
busmess, and where we see the works of the Lord, and his 
wonders in the deep." But "the ship, which, though it be 
so great, and is often driven of fierce winds, yet is it turned 
about with a very small helm whithersoever the governor 
listeth." The distance from Baltimore to Liberia may be 
put down, as the vessel lays her course to get the benefit of 
the Trade AVinds, at four thousand miles, about six hundred 
miles further than it is from Baltimore to England. In sail- 
ing from the coast of the United States to Liberia, land is 
not seen until you come in the neighborhood of the Cape De 
Verd Islands. They are thirteen in number, and they be- 
long to Spain. Only two of them are seen on the passage. 
Santiago, or Santo Antonio first comes into view. It is seen 
fifty miles off*. It is in 17° 12' North lat. and 25° 19' West 
long. It is said to be seven thousand four hundred feet high. 
When first seen it appears like a bank of dark clouds stretched 
along the horizon, for some miles. As it is approached, as in our 
case, under a breeze that drove us along at the rate of 
twelve miles an hour, it loomed up higher and higher with its 
broad dark side stretching itself thirty-six miles along,— 
what, — there it stands, a huge, high mountain, twelve miles 
broad or wide. It is a red sand stone in color, and its sides 
are bare of vegetation from its top to its base. We saw dis- 
tinctly, the grooves in the rock, some larger and deeper than 
others, that the rains had cut on their long passage from the 
top to the sea. We sailed within three- fourths of a mile 
of it. The sea dashed against the base, and gave its 
sound, that it could go no farther. The eye of the passer- 
by is not tired at beholding it, nor is his mind wearied in its 
conjectures how came such materials in this deep, and how 
did they arise to such a height. What a deep foundation 
was once moved here in the sea. Will this mighty founda- 
tion stand firm forever? "God takes up the isles as a very 
little thing." When we were directly under its shadow, 
our ship, in five minutes, was so becalmed that she made no- 
headway. The mountain cut off' the wind we had had. Our/ 
Captain knew that this would be the case, but he wanted to' 
gratify our desire to see it as plain as it could be seen, with- 
out going on shore. In fact, it cannot be seen but from the 
ship's deck. The emigrants enjoyed the sight. For six 
hours we drifted off' by the current so far as to be able to 
catch a breeze, and go on our way with speed. The island 
is inhabited mostly by negroes. It is estimated to be nin^ 



12 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

hundred miles from the coast of Africa. By daylight the 
next morning, we had run one hundred and fifty miles, and 
there stood before us St. Fogo, that is a mount of fire. It is 
another island of the same group. It is nine thousand one 
hundred and fifty-seven feet high, according to the gazetteer. 
It is in 14° 56' North lat., and 24° 21' West long. It pre- 
sents the same barren aspect on one of its sides that Santo 
Antonio did, while there is more land, I was told, on its east 
side, that could be cultivated. On some of these islands, 
there are horses, and mules, and cattle. St. Jago De Cuba, 
is an island in this cluster, where much salt is made from the 
sea-water. I learnt from a missionary, after my arrival in 
Monrovia, that he had been at St. Jago De Cuba lately, 
when Fogo was heaving out its volcanic fire. The first erup- 
tion in it was in 1680. The last before this recent one, was 
1843. The population is put down at ten thousand. St. 
Fogo is considered to be seven hundred and fifty miles from 
the African coast. After passing St. Fogo, we learnt, from 
sad experience, that a sailing vessel depends on the wind to 
make dispatch. We were thirteen days getting seven hun- 
dred and fifty miles. Some days we were in doubt whether 
we had advanced ten miles. The sea was as still as a babe 
rocked to sleep. A dead calm, as the sailors style it, pre- 
vailed for hours at a time. It was an excellent situation to 
learn patience, and to exercise it. The length of the voy- 
age to Libei'ia depends very much upon these calms occur- 
ring to retard the sailing of the ship. The passage can be 
made in twenty-eight days. We were thirty-three days 
making it. But what is that time, as to length, if we have 
not steam in our minds. What is that time when we think 
of the first settlers of Kentucky taking their long and lonely 
journey over mountain and dale, and river and creek, from 
their old homes in Virginia, to their new homes in Ken- 
tucky. What a long and tiresome road that was ! The 
voyage to Liberia is made with a great variety of pleasant 
incidents. The gunwales of the ship are so high that the 
children can play without danger of falling oveiboard. A 
vessel occasionally comes in sight, and is watched on her 
course with our conjectures where is she from, and where is 
she going? Fit^h of various size and name attract our atten- 
tion; we see the flying fish rising from the water, and flying 
for his life from the dolphin in "hot pursuit" after him; then 
the shark is anxiously watched as he follows our ship, to see 
if he will take hold of the bate that is thrown out purposely 
for him to take hold of — he takes it — and the cry we have 
"got him," draws white and black, big and little, to see him 
landed on the quarter deck, which he flaps with his tail 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 18 

with a force that says to us what he would do if he met 
us fairly in his element; and then the grampus whale comes 
up to the side of our ship and gracefully pauses, as it were, 
for us to look at him, being some three feet below the sur- 
face of the water; and then he goes around the ship at his 
leisure, and then under her, without touching her; for he is 
perfectly at home in the deep, and has nothing to do but to 
eat and drink, and exercise himself in his wide domain. 
Some of the passengers feel an interest in teaching the emi- 
grants to spell and read; and those who can read, to read 
better; some are making up garments for future use; some 
are talking over the events of the days that have passed 
away; some are depicting the scenes they will see in Libe- 
ria; some fiddle or play the banjo with soft and melodious 
notes, and the merry dancers will trip the light measured 
step to the time of the music; some will lie down and sleep 
by day, as well as by night, while all the landsmen on board 
have had full confidence after being one week at sea, that 
the Captain does not mean to have the ship turn over into 
the sea, and let us all fall out into its waters. When we en- 
tered the tropics, 23° 30' North lat., the thermometer, at 3, 
P. M., was 70°. The ship was sailing twelve miles per 
hour. When off Santo Antonio, at 12, noon, the thermometer 
was 72°. Two hundred and ninety-seven miles from Libe- 
ria, at 2 P. M., in the cabin, it was 81°. One hundred and 
ninety miles off from it at 7, A. M., in the cabin, it was 81°; 
and it did not, in the cabin, at that hour, vary but one de- 
gree while the ship was on the coast, except two mornings, 
it fell to 76° and 74°, owing, I suppose, to the rain which fell 
between four and five o'clock A. M. on those mornings. 
The ship arrived on the coast of Liberia the 19th of De- 
cember, 1857. It was formerly called the Grain Coast. It 
obtained this name, says an old geography, from the Grains 
of Paradise, or Cardamon, growing there. It is a medicinal 
plant; the seeds of which grow in a pod, and have an aro- 
matic flavor. It is said to be a native of India. The coun- 
try has now the name of Liberia, because it is the country 
of the free colored man. Liberia lies between 7° 34' and 
40 24' North lat., and 12° 57' and 7° 46' West long. In this 
latitude, the sun rises, in the longest days, twelve minutes 
before six o'clock, A. M., and sets, six o'clock, twelve min- 
utes, P. M., making the day twelve hours long. In the short- 
est days, the sun rises at six o'clock, twelve minutes, A. M., 
and sets at five o'clock, forty-eight minutes, P. M., making 
the day eleven hours, and thirty-six minutes long. The dif- 
ference in the length of the days is twenty-four minutes; and 
the difference between their time, and that of Kentueky, is^ 



14 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 



five hours, and forty-five minutes. All along this coast the 
tide rises four feet. The laws of Liberia give this as the 
boundary of Liberia: "Beginning at a line at the mouth of 
the Shebar river on the North-w^est, running northerly about 
forty miles; thence running easterly, to the eastern line of 
Grand Tahoo, or a line formed by the river San Pedro, on 
the East, being a mean parallel distance from the ocean of 
forty-five miles; thence down the San Pedro river to the 
ocean; and thence along the sea coast, in a North-westerly 
direction, to the . place of commencement, including all 
rivers, harbors, bays, islands, and such a distance out in the 
ocean as is determined by the law of Nations to be just and 
proper in such cases, or as security, protection, and a whole- 
some jurisdiction may demand." This described boundary 
has been purchased from the native proprietors of the soil, 
for a good and adequate pecuniary consideration; or it has 
been ceded by its owners to the Republic of Liberia, for the 
political control of the soil and its inhabitants; or has been 
secured to the Republic by preemptive treaties. The length 
of this boundary, on the sea coast, is four hundred and 
ninety miles, by the navigator's line. Liberia is divided in- 
to four counties, viz: Mesurado, Grand Bassa, Sinoe, and 
Maryland. The ship anchored off Cape Mount, a mile from 
the shore, in eight fathoms of water, on the 20th of Decem- 
iber. Boats and canoes put off immediately from the land, 
•with Liberians and natives, to come on board of the ship. 
Our emigrant passengers looked with amazement at the na- 
tives dressed at a mode de natu, that is, with a cloth around 
:the loins, coming on the decks; while the natives, accustom- 
ed to see such brethren, according to the flesh, moved about 
; among the females, as if all was right. The great object of 
.their visit was to obtain work in the landing of the emi- 
fgrants and the cargo on board of the ship. This is done by 
row boats. For, on the Liberian coast, there are no harbors 
for vessels to enter, and moor along side of wharves, to un- 
lade. The vessels anchor in roadsteads off of their ports of 
entry. There is a class of natives called Kroomen, whose 
territorial possessions lie within the county of Grand Bassa, 
who do all this work for the vessels doing business on the 
coast. The Kroomen are scattered all along the coast of 
Liberia, and are called by different names, to distinguish, 
apparently, theii' locations on lands that were owned by other 
tribes. They, are of one common family, and are known by 
a mark, half an inch in width, that commences in the centre 
of the forehead, at its top, and runs, in a straight line, down 
to the end of the nose. It is made when the child is young, 
Bcarrifying the skin, and inserting some black liquid that 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 15 

leaves an indelible, precise, and defined mark, on this part of 
the face, that distinguishes the Kroomen from all other na- 
tives. This mark is confined to the males, and every male 
in the tribe has it. The Captain of a vessel employs one of 
this class, of known reputation, as shown by his credentials, 
signed by various Captains who had employed him, to com- 
mand a boat at fifty cents per day; and that Krooman em- 
ploys as many men to row the boat, as are needed, at 
twenty-five cents per day, and their board. They are kept 
in the employ of the vessel until she leaves the coast. Our 
ship employed, steadily, thirteen of them, and occasionally, 
nine others. The object of employing these men is twofold. 

1. The crew of a vessel not being acquainted with the bars 
of the rivers, nor with the tact necessary to take the advan- 
tage of the waves beating on the bars, to safely cross them, 
it is not safe to entrust the boats and their contents to them. 

2. It is not wise to expose the health of the crew by requir- 
ing of them to do all the work, early and late, and in rnid- 
day, in getting the cargo from the ship on shore. The Kroo- 
men are strong, well proportioned men, willing to work, and 
ready to ask, or receive, dash — that is, a present — from you.. 
How merrily, by sun and by moon light, have they given 
me, in a comfortable boat, a pull, a strong pull, and a pull 
altogether, up and down some of the rivers of Liberia. 

Cape Mount is in 6° 45' North lat. and 1 1° 2.3' West long. 
It is eighty-eight miles from Slierbro. This tract of land 
was bought by the American Colonization Society, for $8,- 
000, of the Vey tribe, for the Republic of Liberia. The 
Vey tribe is one of the most populous tribes within the ter- 
ritorial limits of Liberia, and was once extensively engaged 
in the slave trade. The body of the nation reside back 
from the sea coast, and now own no land on the coast. This 
tribe is, at this time, furnishing French vessels with many 
apprentices, as they are modestly called, for the French 
West India Islands. The Liberian Gov^ernment has a law 
prohibiting "Masters of vessels from taking on board, or giv- 
ing passage, to any individual residing within the Republic, 
without a passport from the Secretary of State, unless to be 
landed within the Republic, under a penalty of not less than 
one hundred dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars." 
The object of this law, on its passage, was to protect credi- 
tors, and prevent the escape of violators of the laws of the 
land. An application of it has been made to the natives 
living within the Republic. But the French vessels pay no 
attention to the law, and Liberia is too weak in naval 
strength to command the clearance of such vessels at her 
ports of entry. Cape Mount is the most north-westwardly 



16 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND XT. 

settlement in Liberia, and is in Mesurada county, which ex- 
tends from the mouth of the Shebar river to the south-east 
bank of the Junk river, a distance of one hundred and sixty- 
one miles. Cape Mount is composed of several cliffs, vary- 
ing in height, and rise, with ravines, which have a gentle 
swale that run up on the sides of the cliffs, until they merge 
in one cliff, with four peaks, that, at a distance, appear as 
one mount. The highest peak is one thousand and seventy 
feet, and can be seen forty miles off at sea. It rises very 
precipitously, some four miles back from the sea, where the 
land is only three miles wide, having the Cape Mount river 
on the west side, and the sea beach on the east side. As 
the mount rises in height, it spreads out in breadth, and 
thus gives a turn to the course of the river, until it comes 
within three-fourths of a mile of the sea, then it turns south- 
wardly and dips into the sea, while the river keeps its bear- 
ings, and empties into the Atlantic, with a mouth some 
three hundred feet wide. Thus a triangle of bottom land ia 
made of one hundred and twenty acres on the west side of 
one of the cliffs; then the Mount takes a south-eastern 
course, sloping off till it comes down to the coast level, 
some six miles distant. The town, which is called Roberts- 
port, is laid off on the north-western cliff that comes down 
to the sea. This is a gradual rise of one hundred and fifty 
feet; then it descends some fifty feet, and again it rises to 
meet one of the highest points. As you stand on this first as- 
cent, the land spreads off to the right hand, with improved 
town lots, here and there on its side, until it unites with the 
bottom land of one hundred and twenty acres, while the 
land on your left hand descends gradually to the bottom of 
a ravine that gently passes you up on the sides of another 
small cliff, presenting to you other settlers on their town 
lots, while before you, is the great sea, where "God layeth 
the beams of his chambers." It is a healthy location, and 
will look well from shipboard when its streets are distinctly 
laid out, the houses tastefully built, and the grounds are 
adorned with the tropical fruits and flowers of the country. 
As I kept a diary while I was in Liberia, I will will give my 
observations of Liberia, in that form, with this change. I 
have made additions to points and things referred to, the day 
I made the entry of them, when I obtained additional infor- 
mation in regard to them. This plan saves repetition, and 
makes the journal more concise. 

December 20. The thermometer in the cabin, at six A. M., 
was 8lo. On deck, 76°; a difference of 5°. It being the 
Sabbath, I went on shore to attend public worship. On the 
sea beach., many of the Liberians, and their children, met our 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 17 

company from the ship. As I stood near to a group of youth, 
I asked them if they could spell and read. I gave out to 
them words, promiscuously, to spell, of two to four syllables. 
With promptness, with one exception, they spelt the words 
correctly. I passed on to the Receptacle put up by the 
American Colonization Society for the occupancy of emi- 
grants for six months after landing at this place. The emi- 
grants who had been living in it for the last six months, had, 
the week before our arrival, left it to go on their own lots. 
The building is ninety-six feet long, thirty-six feet wide, 
and two stories high, with a hall on each floor, eight feet 
wide, furnishing twelve rooms, 14 by 15 feet, on each floor, 
having nine feet pitch. It stands on stone hutments. The 
steward occupies one room, the physician another room for 
his office, and the general agent of the American Society, 
who ha,s in charge the provisions for the emigrants, occupies 
another room for his office. Three rooms on the first floor 
are thrown into one for a dining room. A family not to ex- 
ceed seven members, including parents and the small chil- 
dren, occupy a room. The grown children, with other sin- 
gle adults, according to the sex and ages, are placed in sepa- 
rate rooms, but in no case to exceed six in number in the 
room. The cost of the building, as it stands, was $6,500. 
The steward is furnished once a week, by the general agent, 
with provisions sufficient for a// the emigrants. This is done 
for six months. The allowance served out is at the rate that 
rations are given out in the United States Army. The sick 
have nurses to attend them, under the direction of the doctor. 
Fresh provisions are purchased and served out to the emi- 
grants, under the supervision of the doctor. The doctor at- 
tends to the emigrants during the six months without any 
charge to them. After the end of the six months, each em- 
igrant pays his own doctor's bill, if he makes one. The 
American Colonization Society pays from $1,200, to $1,500, 
to the doctor, the agents, and nurses, who attend every em- 
igration that occupies the Receptacle six months. I attend- 
ed public worship at 11 o'clock, A. M., in the hall on the 
second floor in the Receptacle, and preached to a congrega- 
tion of one hundred and thirty persons. The Methodist de- 
nomination hold their worship in this hall on the Sabbath. 
There is a Baptist church organized in this place, but the 
church has no minister. There are twelve members of the 
Presbyterian church, bat they have no church organization 
here. A Cumberland Presbyterian Minister from Kentucky 
is endeavoring to gather persons into his communion. There 
are day and Sabbath schools in the town. After worship, a 
marriage was solemnized according to rules of the Methodist 

2 



18 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

church. The groom presented to the minister his license to 
be married. The law requires a license signed by the clerk 
of the county court to make a marriage lawful. The party 
requiring a license, gives bond and security in the sum of $200, 
that there is no legal barrier to his entering into the proposed 
relation. If it be proved afterwards, the parties have acted 
contrary to this requirement, they are expelled from the Re- 
public, and the person performing the marriage ceremony 
for unlicensed parties, is fined at the discretion of the Court 
of Sessions. All persons, who, at the time of their arrival 
in Liberia, shall be cohabiting together as husband and wife, 
previous to their admission to the rights and privileges of cit- 
izens, are cited by the clerk of the county court to appear, 
and in his presence, and the presence of each other, sol- 
emnly to acknowledge and declare themselves to be bound- 
en, and lawful man and wife; and the clerk is required to 
make a record of the acknowledgment, as a full and suffi- 
cient evidence of the marriage of the parties. Parties wish- 
ing a divorce, have to take a prescribed course of law to 
bring their petition before the Court of Quarter Sessions; 
which court is clothed with power to grant such petitions, 
but in no case, except for the cause of infidelity or adultery, 
either in the wife or husband. 

I dined with the Methodist minister. We had for dinner, 
roast chickens, baked pork, cassada, sweet potatoes, greens, 
and beans. The pork was from the United States; the rest 
of the articles were the products of the town. Cassada is a 
shrub that grows, ordinarily, five feet high, having a top like 
unto the elder bush. The stalk is full of joints or eyes from 
the bottom to the top. When the cassada is ripe, the stalk is 
pulled up, and is cut in four to six inch pieces, and can be 
planted forthwith for another crop. They can be planted at 
any time in the dry season, but March is the best time. In 
eight months the root is fit to eat, but is much better for food, 
as well as larger, if allowed to grow fifteen months. The 
stalks are planted three to four in number in hills, three to 
four feet apart. The yield is abundant on good soil, if well 
cultivated. Some of the tubers are fifteen inches long, and 
five to eight inches in circumference. They are very sweet 
and palatable when boiled or baked, or roasted. They have 
a rough brown skin. Excellent starch is made out of them, as 
mj'^ own linen proved to me. The natives make cassada 
their principal food; and, probably, it is raised for food by 
Liberians, more than any other esculent root. I have seen 
hogs, sheep, goats, and cattle eat of the cassada with avidity. 
Sweet potatoes can be raised for every month in the year. 
The best time to plant them is before the rainy season sets 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 19 

in. Some think they yield more on clay land than in sandy 
land. When dug, the vines are forthwith planted, leaving 
out the ends. Cabbage grows from three to five feet high, 
with leaves putting out from the body of the stalk, up to its 
top; but it is very rare, I was told, that a head is formed. It 
was a strange sight to see a bed of the stalks standing thick, 
thus tall and slender. They looked as much out of nature's 
course in the cabbage line, as the ostrich of Africa appears 
out of her course in the feathered kind. The greens were 
nevertheless good. Beans grow all the time in the year. In 
the garden of the minister was a bower of lima bean vines, 
that had been planted two years, showing the blossom, 
the ripe bean fit for table use, and the dry bean ready for 
planting. The vines would thus bear for four years. Fowls 
and moscova ducks were in every yard. The African fowl 
is very small, but has been crossed with imported fowls. It 
is a very easy matter to raise fowls in this country. I drank 
water of two different springs, which was soft, sweet, and 
clear. It is a little tinctured with iron ore which abounds in 
the cliffs. It is impossible to describe my sensations in look- 
ing around, and seeing, in the month of December, all kinds 
of vegetation as green and flourishing as it is in June in 
Kentucky. The leaves on the trees w^ere green and full 
grown, as if they were never otherwise. I had occasion, 
after to-day, to notice this appearance. The trees, except 
the cotton tree, are always presenting the mass of their 
leaves green and full formed. I was reminded of the hair 
of our heads in our vigor of youth. Our heads would show 
constantly the same fulness of hair, and yet there would be 
found every day, a few hairs that would yield to the slightest 
pressure of the comb — so of the trees of Liberia. Some of 
their leaves would daily fall off, but you cannot see the par- 
ticular spot they fell from, the tree being so full of leaves. 
The cotton tree is a large, tall, noble looking tree. It drops 
all of its leaves in the month of December, and puts forth her 
buds, and shows a new^ formed leaf in the middle and the 
last of January. I returned to the ship wondering at what J 
saw in this land. The thermometer, on shore, at 3, P. M., 
was 84°. In the cabin, at 7, P. M., 82o. 

December 21. At an early hour in the morning all was 
bustle on board of the ship. The emigrants who are to stop 
here are to be landed to-day. The thermometer, in the 
cabin, at 7, A. M., was 80°. On shore, at 8, A. M., 74°. The 
first house I went to, I saw in the yard a cow and calf. With 
assistance, I measured the cow. She was three feet high, 
and three feet six inches long, from the horns to the root of 
the tail. The calf was five months old, and larger, in propor- 



20 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

tion to age, than the cow. The cow was six years old, and 
gave a quart of milk at a milking. The calf run with the 
cow. I visited the houses of the settlers promiscuously, to 
see how the people lived, to learn where they were from, and 
to ascertain if they were contented with their new home. 
The first emigration direct from the United States to this 
place, was in 1856, I found two unmarried women, and 
one man, anxious to return to the United States; and came 
across several persons who did not get along well; but they 
admitted they could do better, if they tried specially to do so. 
I will not say I went to every family; but there was scarcely a 
house but what I passed, and had a word of enquiry with its 
occupants. I found the people, as a body, in good health. 
They were decently clad. The general remark made by 
them, was, it is difficult for us to make a good support on our 
land, though what we plant grows fast and abundant. They 
did not express any dissatisfaction at their being in Africa. 
It was, they said, our country. In answer to my question, 
wherein do you feel it is your country? they said, we have 
our own families to ourselves; our children grow up under 
our own care, and our labor is for ourselves. In many of 
them, I discovered that the enjoyment of liberty expressed 
itself in their manners and actions. They showed in the 
work of their hands that they were willing to endure trials to 
obtain greater advantages from their liberty. In their con- 
versation, in their family relations, and in their connections 
to the society around them, they exhibited a manliness, and 
a demeanor, that I had not been accustomed to see in this 
class of persons. I saw that they had to forego many of the 
things and advantages they had been accustomed to have: 
for example, they had not a daily supply of bacon, nor had 
they beasts of burden to plow the ground. Their work was 
done by the spade and hoe. They were limited to a quarter 
of an acre of land to cultivate, except a few of them. And 
their diet was much of esculent roots, though rich and nour- 
ishing, yet what they had never been used to before their ar- 
rival in Africa. It was not strange to me, when I reminded 
some of them of the counties in Yirginia that they had come 
from, to see the strength of the cord of attachment to their 
old homes. The workings of the countenance, I thought, 
told of a child left behind, or of the rememberance of com- 
panions of their youth, or the scenes they had often witness- 
ed; but wiping away a tear, the manly sentiment was utter- 
ed, well, this will be a good home by and by, to us, but espe- 
cially to our children. Every inch of ground was improved 
by the industrious, and by some, with taste, as a flower bor- 
der would show. The act of the Liberian Legislature, in 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 21 



laying off this town, says, ''the lots in said town shall be one- 
quarter of an acre of land; and adjacent, there shall be farm 
lots laid out, of ten acres, each." It is also the general 
law of Liberia, -'that each settler, on his arrival in Liberia, is 
entitled to draw a town lot, or a plantation; that every mar- 
ried man, shall have for himself, a town lor, or five acres 
of farm land, together with two more for his wife, and one 
acre for each child that may be with him, provided, always, 
that no single family shall have more than ten acres ; also, 
that women, not having husbands, and attached to no family 
besides their own, shall receive a town lot, or two acres of 
farm land, on their own account, and one acre on account of 
each of their children; and unmarried men, of the age of 
twenty-one j^ears, arriving in Liberia, from abroad, and all 
those w^ho attain their majority, while resident in Liberia, and 
having taken the oath of allegiance, are admitted to draw a 
building lot, or five acres of farm land, on the same condi- 
tions as married men;" but not one ten acre lot, nor five acre 
lot, nor one two acre lot, has been laid ofl^ at Cape Mount for 
emigrants. The Superintendent at Cape Mount told me, 
that all the land at the Cape, suitable for it, was to be laid 
off in town lots; and the farm lots were to be laid off twelve 
miles up the Cape Mount river. A few^ of the settlers have 
bought a quarter of an acre adjoining their quarter, at $30, 
the price asked by the government for a lot. Every alter- 
nate lot is claimed by the government as its own, to sell. 
Others have gone down on the tract of bottom land, and are 
cultivating it. The place is too straight for them. They 
cannot, as they are now situated, have cattle, sheep, and 
hogs. Nor can they raise enough on their quarter of an acre 
to barter and obtain animal food as much as they want. It 
is true they cannot starve, nor will "their strength wax old" 
oh what industry can produce from their town lots; but that 
is no reason they should be placed on a quarter of an acre 
of ground for \h.e. present time. The number of the town lots 
laid out, is four hundred and nineteen. Of this number, one 
hundred and forty-four have been drawn by the settlers. 
The half of the four hundred and nineteen lots belong to the 
Liberian Government; which is 209 lots. There are but 
sixty-five lots left to be drawn by emigrants to be landed to- 
day. If the eighty-nine emigrants, on landing, draw lots 
here, more lots must be laid off for other emigrants that are 
sent here to settle. Where is their farm land to belaid off? 
The population of the place to-day, is five hundred. Of this 
number, there are but twenty-five mechanics, all told, count- 
ing those of this day's landing. The farmers need, and must 
have farm lands. It is preposterous to think of the farmers 



22 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

going by canoes twelve miles up the river to cultivate their 
land. Already, most of their limited means have been, from 
the necessity of their situation, expended on their lots, clear- 
ing of them, putting up their houses, inclosing the lots, and 
planting them. And v^^th all this expenditure, farmers are 
on a quarter of an acre of land. They can raise fowls and 
ducks; but a pig, or goat, or sh^ep, they cannot raise. Salt 
pork; at the store, sells at twenty to twenty-five cents per 
pound, and flour at twelve and a half cents per pound. 
While I believe that salt meat is not necessary for the in- 
habitants of this climate, yet, those who have always been 
accustomed to it, cannot be weaned from it altogether sud- 
denly, with contentment of mind. And where they are dis- 
posed to take fresh meat in its place, where is their farm 
land that it may be raised thereon? And do they not want 
land to raise something to sell for exportation that will de- 
mand cash for it? This land arrangement is bad policy, 
whether we look at the prosperity of the people, or at the 
revenue to the public treasury to be derived from their labor. 
The inhabitants deserve, at the hand of Liberia, better ar- 
rangements for their welfare; and the great confidence that 
masters, and free persons of color have placed in the fidelity 
of the American Colonization Society, to see that the emi- 
grants are well and judiciously located, demands of the So- 
ciety to have other arrangements made in regard to the forced 
location of emigrants at this town, or any other town, on 
town lots. I say forced; for the emigrants have had to take 
town lots, or to move to some other place to them unknown. 
They are inexperienced persons, it is true; but of such is to 
be the bone of the land. By their industry much land had 
been cleared; many buildings had been put up, and many 
things were cultivated for the support of the people. I 
counted eighty-five houses. It will be remembered it was 
in 1856 this town was commenced. The houses were of 
bamboo, covered with native thatches, or were made of 
round poles, and boarded or daubed with clay, with a shingle 
or clap-boarded roof, or with thatches worked together by 
the natives, and sold for that purpose. The cost of these 
buildings would vary from $30 to $45. There were two 
frame buildings, the cost of one was $300, the other $350. 
There was a kiln of brick being put up to be burnt for the 
erection of a Cumberland Presbyterian Church, at the cost of 
$5 50 per thousand. The clay was tough, and free from 
gravel, and the moulded brick gave a very clear ring. I no- 
ticed a great many ant hills. They were of clay, and were 
made by the ant called bug-a-bug. It is a red ant, the size 
of our black ants. They are destructive to framed houses, 



LIBERIA, A3 I FOUND IT. 23 

and to fencing of the live plumb. The hills, or more prop- 
erly mounds, are thirty feet in circumference, rising to the 
height of eight feet, and tapering off at the top to two or 
three feet in diameter. The ants, I was told, made a large 
chamber within the mound, but it is only for a temporary 
habitation, as they are abandoned, and others are made, by 
perhaps another colony. When deserted, the emigrants 
make use of the clay, which has been thoroughly worked 
over by the ants, for mortar to daub their houses, or to make 
a hard and smooth dirt floor in their houses. The inside of 
many of the houses have a matting made by the natives, 
hung from the ceiling, to answer as a division wall; and they 
are also used as a substitute for plastering the sides of their 
rooms. The rooms looked clean, the beds comfortable, and 
in many instances, there was a show of crockery and glass 
lamps, and mahogany chairs, that bespoke a kindness of 
feeling for them when they left the plantation of their birth. 
Many of the town lots were inclosed with poles made out of 
limbs taken from the living plumb tree, or physic tree. They 
are cut six feet long, and one end is stuck in the ground on 
the line of the lot, and they take root, and become a living 
hedge. The greatest danger to their growth was the con- 
duct of the bug-a-bug toward them. They would, with clay 
taken up by them, build cells or lodgements on the eyes of 
the buds. Whether this act, or whether they inserted from 
themselves a poison that mingled with the sap, I cannot tell; 
but I saw frequently that the tree, or what would have been 
a tree, was dead. But it can easily be replaced. Lumber 
was sold at $3 to $4 per hundred; and nails, no matter what 
the size, at 12^ cents per pound. Their reliance for lumber 
is on the whip saw. Six of them were kept constantly at 
work. The logs were chiefly brought down the river, be- 
cause of convenience in getting them to the saw pit. 

I went into the dining room of the Receptacle at the din- 
ner hour. If the emigrants are furnished each day of the 
six months they are in the Receptacle, as the table exhibited 
to-day, they will not have occasion to complain of being 
stinted in food for six months. I dined at the private table 
in the Receptacle, and had for dinner, chickens, fresh fish, 
cassada, sweet potatoes, rice, and baked plantains. Rice is 
the great production of the natives. What they do not need 
for themselves they sell to the Liberians. If there be a fail- 
ure in their raising of it, the natives not only suffer for want 
of it, but the Liberians also suffer, so far as rice is a part of 
their diet. For the Liberians do not raise it as much as their 
own consumption of it demands. The reasons why the Li- 
berians do not generally raise it, are: 1. The best crop is 



24 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

raised in the wet season. This requires too great an expo- 
sure of their health to weed rice in the rains. As the natives 
oil their bodies every day, and are accustomed to all the 
changes of the weather, they can safely be out in the rains, 
and weed the rice. 2. The Liberian family has not force 
enough to keep the rice birds off from the rice, which are 
numerous and destructive, but the natives having their rice 
fields in common, have a force to watch the birds, and that 
in the rains. Two crops of rice can be raised in the )"ear; 
but the natives confine themselves chiefly to one crop. The 
rice is sowed in April, and is gathered in August. The 
second crop is sowed in October, and is gathered in January 
and February. Wet land is the best for it, though I saw 
small patches of it on high land, sowed in drills. By wet 
land is meant the low land near to streams of water which 
is kept moist by the rains that fall in the wet season. The 
rice is sweet and ffood; but owing to the imperfect method 
of cleaning it, (which is b}'' pounding it in a mortar, and 
then separating the husk from the grain by a kind of win- 
nowing fan,) it has a reddish cast on the table, from portions 
of the husk adhering to the kernel. It formerly was sold at 
thirty-seven to forty-four cents per kroo or half bushel; but 
owing to a great scarcity of it a year ago, it has been sold 
as high as two dollars per kroo. At this time it is selling for 
seventy-five cents to one dollar a kroo. Perhaps more rice 
is raised by the natives living back of Cape Mount than is 
raised in any one district in Liberia. I have referred to a 
wet season. There is a dry season and a wet season in Li- 
beria, that its agricultural productions have much to do 
with. The wet or rainy season commences, I was told, in 
May. Though but little rain falls in that month compara- 
tively with succeeding months, yet more falls in that month 
than in the preceding months. June has more rain than any 
month in the year. Rarely does, twenty-four hours pass but 
rain falls either in the day or night. July, August, September, 
and October are rainy months. In the latter part of July to the 
middle of August, but little rain falls. It does not rain all 
the time; but very constant showers, and sometimes very 
heavy rains fall. This is of course the coolest season in the 
year, and to Liberians it is so cool as to require warmer 
clothing than is needed in the summer season. The dry 
season commences in November, and closes with April. The 
rains that fall in these months, are in showers that last but 
a short time. In the seven weeks I was there, I noticed six 
showers — four of them before 5 A. M. The sun shines in 
these months with less clouds passing before its rays, and 
the heat is more regular. The thermometer in the wet sea- 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 25 

son ranges from 65° to 73o. In the dry season from 74° to 
86°. There are days when it will fall lower than 63^, and 
rises higher than 86o, as I myself witnessed in the month of 
January. The heat is very much tempered in the dry sea- 
son, as the cold is increased by the land and sea breezes. The 
sea breeze rises at 10 A. M., and blows until 10 P. M. Then 
there is a suspension of all breezes for two hours,-and it is hot 
in January in those hours, as my person would prove to me 
every night. The land breeze would set in about half past 
twelve in the night, and blow until 9 A. M. About 10 A. M. 
I judged to be the hotest part of the daylight; but the breeze 
rises and soon gives a refreshing air to the person. The 
plantain I had for dinner grows on a shrub that is seven to 
eight feet in height, with leaves from five to six feet long, 
and about two feet broad, of a deep rich green. The shrub 
is about twelve to fifteen inches in circumference. It is im- 
portant while the shrub is growing to cut off" many of the 
leaves, that the fruit may be more perfect in its growth, and 
other shoots putting out from the roots to bear another crop, 
may have a mutual benefit of the sap. The fruit hangs from 
a stock that puts out from the top of the shrub. The blos- 
som is on the end of this stock, some eight inches from the 
fruit, and is like in form to a beef's heart. When the blos- 
som begins to dry, the bunch of plantains can be taken from 
the shrub, and be hung up to mature, and be taken off* from 
the stock as they are needed. There is but one bunch of 
plantains on a shrub. In that bunch there will be from 
eighty to one hundred plantains, each one from eight to nine 
inches long, and an inch to an inch and a quarter in thick- 
ness, having the form of a long green cucumber. The 
shrub is cut down when the stalk of plantains is ripe to be 
gathered, when another shrub is coming forward to do as its 
predecessor did. They can be increased at pleasure. They 
ripen in seven months. A person having a number of shrubs 
can have fruit year after year, and in its different seasons. 
The fruit, when gathered, is of a light faint green, and 
when matured for use, is yellow. The rind is taken offhand 
it is baked, boiled or fried. And a most delicious dish it is, 
prepared for the table either way. When half ripe, they 
are boiled and pies are made out of them. They make a 
good beer for table use, and when boiled and dried, the 
pieces are broken up fine, and it is made into bread. "It is 
said, that in the West Indies, three dozen plantains are esti- 
mated as sufficient to serve a man one week, instead of bread, 
and will support him much better." American Encyclo- 
pedia. 



26 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

After dinner, I visited the Garrison that was, for it is now 
not needed. It is three-fourths of a mile in a direct line from 
the Receptacle, and one mile and a quarter by the way of a 
small settlement of the Vey tribe, on the beach, near to the 
mouth of Cape Mount river. This settlement consists of 
some one hundred and twenty men and women, and chil- 
dren, who come down in such numbers, alternately, during 
the dry season, to boil the salt water of the ocean for salt. 
The tribe has its main settlement seven to ten miles up the 
river. At this settlement on the beach, I found the King of 
the tribe. The women were boiling salt in the different 
houses (the place for entrance is left open) in iron pots, 
holding from one to three gallons. They brought the sea 
water in brass kettles and wooden kegs. The heat of the 
fires, and the size of the boiling vessels showed that time 
was not worth much in making salt. The salt was black. 
They sold it to the interior tribes for seventy-five cents per 
kroo. The King was sitting in his hammock with his feet 
resting on the ground. He was in his sitting room, which 
was an open shed, its front facing the west, and the south 
and east sides of it were covered with rushes down to the 
ground. There was an attache on the north side of it 
where his wives slept. In the back part of his parlor were 
some of his wives boiling salt water, and they differed in 
age, but not in dress. My appearance drew a number of 
the men in front of the King's residence; and in the door- way 
of the attache stood several women gazing at myself. I had 
never before seen a King, and the King and his people had 
never seen me before. But 1 did not have to stand in the 
King's presence, for he ordered a stool to be brought for me 
to sit on. He had on his head a figured woolen cap, and 
different trinkets around his neck, on his wrists, and around 
his ancles. His feet were shod with course untied brogues, 
made, I had no doubt, in one of our Eastern states, for where 
else are such shoes made. A large cloth was thrown over 
his body, leaving one arm bare. He nor myself (and I 
thought so of his female household) were not embarrassed. 
The King talked in English very well for a foreigner. Our 
conversation was chiefly in regard to the slaves in his tribe, 
the apprenticeship system among the French, what his tribe 
raised, and whether he was willing to have a missionary 
live in his tribe and teach the people what the only true God 
required of mankind, his creatures, and open a school to 
teach his children, book, as they style all writing and printing. 
He said he wanted a missionary, and wished to know of me 
if I would begin right away to open a school for his people. 
I inquired after his household, and how many wives he had. 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 27 

With a playful smile, as if he had often thought of the mat- 
ter, giving his head a slight toss, he replied, twenty-two. I 
did not think it was becoming in me to inquire after his do- 
mestic peace, and he arrested my reflections, about his di- 
lemmas, that Jacob of old was often placed in by Dinah, by 
his catching hold of a little naked fellow near by, and pre- 
senting him to me with fatherly pride, saying, "this be one 
of my child." Of course I did not express my doubts to him. 
A small boy had been standing by the King during all this 
interview, holding something in a saucer with a spoon, for 
the King to eat. In answer to my question what it was, he 
said it was rice and pea nuts pounded together and boiled 
with some palm oil, and requested me to try it. I took out 
my knife and cut off a piece of it, believing it was not in 
taste to eat of his spoon. All were apparently pleased at my 
method of getting a piece to eat; and I was gratified in eat- 
ing the article. It was pleasant to eat, and must be a nour- 
ishing diet. The tribe trade in fresh meat, rice, mats, ham- 
mocks, and native work, and receive in pay, cloth, tobacco, 
rum, powder, &c. I saw in a yard goats and kids. Before 
leaving the presence of the King, Mamma vSally, as she is 
styled, came to make the King an afternoon's call. She is a 
widow, and a daughter of a deceased native King. Her 
husband was a Liberian, by the name of Curtis. He emi- 
grated from the United States in 1823, and left the Liberian 
settlements in 1834, and united with his wife's tribe, and be- 
came an active slave trader. He was killed some years 
back in his tribe. Mamma Sally is a large woman, weigh- 
ing at least two hundred and twenty pounds. She li\ es near 
to the Garrison. Her head was the most attractive part of 
her person. Her hair was braided in very small fine strands, 
and placed in such regular and tasteful forms, as to look like 
a turban placed on her head by one of her maids of honor. 
(Three of them accompanied her wherever she goes.) Not 
being a knight of her bed chamber, I cannot tell how she dis- 
poses of it, nor what arrangement she makes of it, when she 
retires to her bed, if she has one. Her wrists and ancles 
were adorned with various trinkets, including silver coins of 
different sizes and value. She moved about with great state, 
half covered with a large cotton cloth. She has several 
slaves who do her work, if it may be called work. I left 
the royal personages, and took a path that led to the Garri- 
son, now abandoned as a fortification. The nine and twelve 
pounders scattered around, told me they had been brought 
here to do service, if needed. I am happy to say they were 
never used against the natives, and I think, if a proper 
course is pursued with them, the cannon will never be needed. 



28 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

The Superintendent of the Town of Robertsport lives here, 
whose office is similar to that of a Mayor of a City. Sonne 
twelve of the houses which had been used as quarters by 
the soldiers, were now occupied by some natives, some Libe- 
rians, and Mamma Sally's train. The military force of the 
town is one hundred and twenty-five men, with two twelve 
pound cannon, and two four pounders, four casks of pow- 
der, and a good supply of cannon ball. All the men are sup- 
plied with guns, and a greater number of persons could be 
enrolled to do military duty from those who have arrived 
within the last seven months. Near to the Garrison is a fine 
bold spring of w^ater that comes from the Mount. It is sweet 
and soft water. I put the thermometer in the water just 
where it escapes from under a rock, and it stood at 76°. 
In returning to the town, I passed through the bottom land I 
have referred to. It was a black loam covering a j^ellow 
clay, free from gravel; which clay, when the loam was ta- 
ken off, was good to make brick of. Some of the Liberian 
settlers had planted most of this ground in cassada, sweet 
potatoes, beans, melons, and cucumbers. I passed a bold 
stream that came from another cliff near to the base of the 
cliff that a portion of the town is built on, which stream fur- 
nished water for all domestic purposes to the people on the 
west side of the town. The thermometer, at 3, P. M., was 
86°. I had gone through the day, suffering no more from 
the heat than if I had been walking about in Kentucky in 
the months of July or August. When I returned to the ship, 
at 7, P. M., I learned that eighty-nine emigrants, viz: sixty 
over twelve years of age, and twenty-nine under that age, 
had been landed at Robertsport, and placed in the Recepta- 
cle where I had seen them at dinner. When the ship sails 
from the United States, the General Agent of the American 
Colonization Society specifies the number of emigrants 
who are to stop at different places in Liberia to acclimate. 
The owners, or executors, or agents of Colonization Socie- 
ties, or the free persons themselves, can express a wish where 
they should be landed. Otherwise the General Agent de- 
cides upon the place, and puts on board provisions to supply 
the number for the six months, at the place they will accli- 
mate. This is an important arrangement to secure a supply 
of provisions for the number put on shore at each specified 
place where the ship stops at. 

December 22. The thermometer in the cabin, at 7, A. M., 
was 81°. When I went on shore, I was struck with the 
heavy dews that fall here during the night; and also, that 
house flies are not seen. In this day's ramble, I found new 
clearings were going on, and new houses were being put up. 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 29 



In some lots there is more rock coming up to the surface 
than an emigrant would want on a quarter of an acre. The 
rock is called by the masons flint rock. They heat it by 
building a fire upon it, then poar water on it, and by a bar 
of iron, break it. Time will teach them to drill and blast. 
I came across two other springs to-day, and a well dug ten 
feet, with two feet of water in it. I was told that in the 
rainy season the well was full of water. The water in the 
well and springs was 76°. I made a general inquiry as to 
the virtue of the people, and was glad to learn that the lo- 
cation of the families in their separate habitations with their 
children, and the conspicuousness of their position as fami- 
lies, necessarily led to a good social and moral change in the 
habits of the body of the people. It is a law of Liberia, 
that if any woman shall have a bastard child, she, by exam- 
ination upon oath, shall state who is the father of the child; 
and the father of it (if evidence cannot be adduced by him 
to show that he is not its father) is required to give 
bond and security for its maintenance, at the rate of one dol- 
lar per week, as long as the child may be likely to become a 
public charge. If the mother will not testif}^ to the parent- 
age of the child, and she is not able to support the child, she 
is hired out from time to time to pa}' the public charge of sup- 
porting the child. If the mother is able to support the child, 
she gives bond and security for the maintenance of the 
child. Without virtue is sustained by this people, they can 
never sustain a civilized life. In my walk I came into a 
clearing outside of the town lots. Here I found a woman 
from North Carolina, by the name of Sheridan. She had 
six children, four of them (two sons and two daughters) 
were over fifteen years of age, and under tv/enty-two years. 
She came to this place seven months ago. She refused, to 
take a town lot, and while living the six months in the Re- 
ceptacle, she took her four oldest children, (and some days 
the other two children,) when their health and her own 
health would allow it, and commenced working on the land 
she is now living on. She cut down the timber and burnt it 
on the ground, and planted cassada, eddoes, sweet potatoes,, 
beans, pawpaw, plantain, and American corn, as she pre- 
pared the land. She built a log house with two. rooms, so 
that when the six months expired, she left the Receptacle, 
and moved into her own house, having four acres cleared. 
That woman will live in Liberia with many comforts about 
her. She was warned not to make the improvements, for 
she could not draw the land as farm land; nor could she 
expect to receive compensation for her labor from the Gov- 
ernment. But she gave no heed to the warning. She had 



30 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

raised and laid aside a barrel of corn, that she might be cer- 
tain to have some to plant the next season. I got two ears 
of it. It was of the tourteen rowed kind, hard, and M^ell fill- 
ed out. The ears were seven inches long. The American 
corn is planted in February or March, and is fit to gather in 
four months. The African corn, which in length, and the 
size of the kernel, is like unto our pop corn, is longer 
getting its growth than the American corn. The land this 
woman had squatted down on was a rich clay mixed with 
sand. I reminded her of the poor sand}^ soil near to Eliza- 
beth Cit3^ North Carolina, where she came from, and she 
would launch forth in her own style about what she had 
done, and what she enjoyed in her adopted home. I shall 
remember this Carolina woman for her industry and perse- 
verance, and for having the good judgment to leave a large 
towering cotton tree within two hundred yards of her front 
door, which looked out on the Atlantic ocean. I returned to 
the town, and dined with Dr. Roberts, the physician, in the 
employ of the American Colonization Society at this place. 
We had for dinner, fresh beef, fresh fish, eddoes, bananas 
fried, sweet potatoes, African rice, and lima beans. After 
dinner I drank a holf tumbler of palm wine. The dinner was 
very palatable, and the wine very satisfactory to a teetotal- 
ler wherever he goes. The palm wine is the liquid that 
drops from the palm tree. There is a pith called cabbage, 
that grows in the heai't of the tree from the ground to its 
top. The tree is bored, as is done to the sugar tree, with 
this difference; in the palm tree, the cabbage is reached 
with the augur or borer. A spile is inserted, and a white li- 
quid something like milk and water in color gently flows out, 
w^iich is called wine. It runs from twenty to forty gallons, 
according to the size of the tree. When all the liquid runs 
out of the cabbage, the tree dies. You can draw out occa- 
sionally a gallon or two from the tree, and filling up the hole 
tight, you do not injure the tree. The wine is good, especi- 
ally to a temperance, man, when it is fresh from the tree. It 
is then sweet, with a very pleasant acid. If it stands thirty 
hours it sours, and in two days it is a hard drink. The na- 
tives sometimes cut down the palm tree to get the cabbage 
to eat. This was very extensively done by them during the 
great destitution of rice some twelve months ago. The law 
of Liberia forbids any one to cut down a palm tree on the 
public lands under a penalty of five dollars. The eddoe I 
eat of at dinner is sometimes called Tania, and is a bulbous 
root. It is planted in hills, bearing a stem that has broad 
leaves. Its taste is like that of the Mercer Irish potatoe. 
The eddoes put out from the root all around the stalk, and 



lIBhRTA, AS I FOUND IT. 31 

underneath the upper tier, a second tier puts out. The 
length is sometimes twelve inches, but generally it is six to 
eight inches long, and grows in a tapering form. Its yield is 
great when well attended to. It is planted in April and 
May, and is fit to eat in four to five months. An excellent 
starch is made from them. They are baked or boiled. The 
bananas grow in size, height, and leaf and blossom, like un- 
to the plantain. It is rich when eat raw, and delicious 
when boiled or baked. It is not as large as the. plantain, 
but is more nutricious than the plantain is. By proper at- 
tention a family can have them every day on their table. I 
learned from the doctor that there had been three emigra- 
tions to this town direct from the United States before our 
arrival. When the first arrival came, there were here, 
fifty-five of the volunteers and their families, which made in 
all, one hundred and forty-two. To this number, the first ar- 
rival added ninety-six; the second arrival added eighty 
more, and the third arrival, one hundred and twenty seven. 
Our expedition, the fourth arrival, added eighty-nine. The 
deaths among the emigrants of the three expeditions, were 
forty-three. It is a singular and striking fact, that in a pop- 
ulation that started with one hundred and forty-two, and in 
twenty months had increased, by emigration, to four hundred 
and eleven, there has not been added to the number, by birth, 
but nine children. When I returned to the ship, I learned 
that there had been landed for the six months supply of the 
eighty-nine emigrants landed on yesterday, the following 
provisions, viz: one sack of salt, s'feventeen barrels of mack- 
erel, four boxes of soap, three barrels of rice, twenty-five 
barrels of beef, twenty barrels of pork, two tierces of bacon, 
five kegs o( butter, sixty barrels of flour, five barrels of 
brown sugar, four barrels of molasses, two half chests of 
tea, four bags of coffee, two barrels of vinegar, one box of 
mustard, two boxes of pepper, five barrels of kiln dried 
meal, and four boxes, and four bales of dry goods, and two 
bundles of United States muskets, to be sold to buy fresh 
provisions and to aid in defraying expenses. I supped on 
board, eating a portion of a steak from the same beef that 
had furnished me with a roast for dinner. It was tender 
and good. The price twelve and a half cents per pound. 
Fresh beef wall not keep in this climate over forty hours. 
The beef referred to had been furnished by the natives. In 
this town I had found but three bullocks, three sheep and 
two goats. 

December 23. The thermometer in the cabin, at 7, A. M., 
was 82°. I went on shore, having the company of a fellow 
passenger from Maine, a white man, who had come to this 



32 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

country with the hope of doing some good to the natives. 
My plan was to take a tour over the cliffs, and down them, to 
see if any land could be found for farming purposes. I ob- 
tained a Liberian hunter to go with us, having taken a lunch 
for our journey. Of course our travel was on foot. We took 
up through the town to the height of the cliff it is chiefly 
built upon, then descended some fifty feet, and commenced 
rising another cliff. Our course bore north-east by east. Our 
path was a hunter's path winding its way over rocks and 
fallen trees, up and down. We stopped here and there, 
looking down, and going down, then looking up, and going 
up. We were in the mountains. The trees were large, and 
would furnish logs that would cut much lumber. But who 
or what will roll away the great stones that the logs may 
find the bottom of the mount to be sawed up. Here was no 
land for the hoe, or the plough. At twelve,' noon, we came 
to a narrow space of stony ground that the hunter said was 
the greatest rise of the cliffs. We could see on the right 
hand, the Atlantic, and on the left hand, we saw the same 
ocean; but we could see no farming land. We decided to 
turn off, and go south, down the cliff. The thermometer 
was 76° on the top of the cliff. The hunter had a sharp 
strong steel cutlass. We had to cut our way down the side 
of the cliff. The vines were entangled with each other, and 
varied in size from a fourth of an inch to three inches. But 
they were so full of sap that the largest of them were cut 
with a heavy blow. We would stop and notice where the 
deer had rubbed against af tender shrub, or where the wild 
hog had been rooting but a few hours ago, or to listen to the 
mourning sound of a bird that mourned as the owl mourns 
in a still night at home. Then the hunter would look 
around to judge where to select a route to get down the 
easiest way, it was a strange place for me to be in. But, 
onward, God will direct in the matter of African Coloniza- 
tion, has been my motto. Every step we knew was bring- 
ing us to the sea. The quick and accustomed ear of the 
hunter caught the gurgling sound of water. Looking at the 
thermometer, it was 80°. Soon we came to the water. Af- 
ter a good wash, we went a few steps back, sat down, drank 
the water out of our cup, eat our lunch, and in patience pos- 
sessed our souls in this dreary spot, knowing that the hand 
and eye of our Heavenly Father was on us, and helping us. 
The water was good, soft and clear, and cool to us. The 
thermometer said it was 76°. When we started from our 
resting place, we followed the course of the water but a 
short a distance, and we found ourselves down the mount we 
had been on. Here we met with another stream coming 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. S3 

from the north-west, having a cliff on its west side. The 
two united in one, which we followed until we discovered it 
was leading us too far south-east to get back to the ship that 
night. Leaving the stream, we ascended a small cliff going 
south-west; the descent of which cliff brought us to water 
again. Crossing it, we ascended another small cliff, and the 
ocean roar struck on our ear. When we descended this 
cliff we came upon table land, not heavily timbered, the soil 
rich, of a brownish clay, running parallel with the coast 
north-west and south-east. We followed the sound of the 
surf on the shore, constrained to stop every now and then to 
eat ripe wild plumbs, the size of nectarines, and the meat 
like that of the peach, but not so juicy. When we came to 
the brink of this table land, it broke off precipitously to the 
sea beach. We judged from our position that this land 
might be three miles long, and its width three-fourths of a 
mile. A measurement might make it more, and it might 
make it less. It appeared to be cut off at its south-east end 
by a cliff that came down to the sea beach. We decided to 
turn our course north-west to find the town. We passed 
along on this table land, looking at the various seed of some 
nameless fruit, or pod, that lay on the ground, asking if some 
kind of oil could not be extracted from it, when we came to 
water — a running stream, the temperature of which was 76°. 
As we approached the point where the Cape turns to run 
south-east, the tract of land widened. Paths soon told us 
we were on land that the hunters had trodden — and soon we 
found paths that had been made by those who had sought 
poles for their houses. Our way led us to an old lot occu- 
pied in former days by a half town of the Vey tribe, as I 
supposed. There was the banana, plantain, pawpaw, and 
pine apple, growing in their wild neglected state. Soon we 
came upon a small lot occupied by a native, who was culti- 
vating it after the fashion of the Liberians. Another turn, 
we came to the beach, and soon saw the towering cotton 
tree of the North Carolina woman. I take no credit of dis- 
covery to myself, but wondered, when conversing with Presi- 
dent Benson, in Monrovia, in regard to this tract of land, in 
the presence of Ex-President Roberts, who bought the tract, 
that Mr. Roberts should express ignorance of any land on 
that side of the mount, suitable for farming. There cer- 
tainly should be 3. particular examination of land in Liberia, 
when it is decided to locate emigrants at the place. Farm- 
ing land should be near and back of a town, for the mutual- 
support of town and country. I did not, in this day's jour- 
ney, see a tract of land that would support an agricultural 
community for a large population in Robertsport. In fact, 

3 



34 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

the present population should have all that I had seen. In 
this day's taur, 1 saw on the cliffs, bastard mahogany, rising, 
I thought, seventy feet, w^ithout limb, giving a log ten feet in 
diameter at the butt, and four feet at the topmost log. The 
hickory runs up as straight as an arrow, varying from eigh- 
teen inches to two feet in diamter. The upland mango 
looked as if nature had had a freak, turning down the tree 
after having permitted it to grow in its natural way, and 
sticking, as it were, the top branches into the ground, direct- 
ing the roots to put out <and grow as top branches. The tree 
stood on some thirty to forty standards like, that had grown 
up out of the ground, over a space of forty feet, without any 
connection above ground, to each other, and grew, enlarg- 
ing in size, and drawing toward each other, to meet some 
ten to twelve feet high, in a common centre, and form the 
body of a valuable tree for lumber, that grew great and 
high. The tree is indeed a singular sight, showing that na- 
ture, though she has general established laws, will do things 
in her own way, that are "marvelous in our eyes." I came 
to several conclusions at the end of m}^ day's work. 1. No 
more emigrants should be landed at Robertsport, who are 
farmers, for the present. 2. That the emigrants already lo- 
cated here should have land surveyed out to them as soon 
as possible, and be furnished with it according to the law of 
Liberia, in distributing farm lands to emigrants. 3. That 
masters and executors, who send emigrants to Liberia, have 
a just claim upon the Liberian Government to have no. em- 
igrants located where there is no farm land for farmers to 
draw on their arrival at the place. They should be ab;!e to 
draw land, that while they are suppoited by the society, 
they may have it ready for their occupancy at the end of the 
six months. 5. There is a great risk run, that emigrants, 
who have families to support, and have no farm land to as- 
sist them to do it, will become dissatisfied and anxious to re- 
turn to their old homes. 

This settlement is so recent in its commencement, that the 
condition and prospect of its inhabitants cannot be a test of 
what Liberia is to the black man, who exchanges a resi- 
dence in the United States for it. What I saw, spoke favor- 
ably for the people as a community, and showed that they 
could get a good living if they had land to do it on. The germ 
of society was seen, that could, under the favorable circum- 
sstances of temporal advantages, make the place a good 
home. But to have a home, we want all the advantages 
that our business in life requires us to have, to prosecute with 
.vigor^.and get the fruit. 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 35 

I have been here four days. The thermometer has ranged 
on shore from 82°, 7 A. M., to 86^ at 12, noon, and then re- 
turned to 82° or 8lo, at 7 P. M. There are no white per- 
sons in this settlement. Carpenters wages are $1 25; ma- 
sons $1 50. The Liberians can buy of the natives back 
from the coast, bullocks at $10 to $15; sheep at $2 to $2 50, 
and goats at the same price. Dogs were plenty; and no 
emigrant need take with him, Tray, nor Blanche, nor Sweet- 
heart. They have cats sufficient to stock all future family 
demands in that line. Rorbertsport is a port of entry. In 
1857, the duties on imports were $99. The exports were 
two hundred and thirt3^-seven gallons of palm oil, one and a 
half tons of camwood, and twenty-nine pounds of ivory. 

December 24. At 5 o'clock, A. M., we weighed anchor for 

MONROVIA. 

The wind was light, but we had a strong current in our fa- 
vor. The thermometer at 7 A. M., was 81°. The distance 
from Cape Mount to Monrovia is forty miles. The sea coast 
is low, looking very much in height as that in the neighbor- 
hood of the Chesapeake Bay; bul here^ the palm tree, and 
the cotton tree, are seen towering above all the other trees. 
At 9, P. M., the atmosphere being very hazy, we came to 
anchor in six fathoms of water. A fathom is six feet. This 
haziness of the atmosphere is so dense on this coast, especi- 
ally at this season of the year, that we could not test by sight, 
what is a fact, that the north star cannot be seen in this lat* 
itude. 

December 25. The thermometer at 7, A. M., was 81°. This 
is Christmas day. All was activity on the sea board. I 
counted fifty canoes moving with the speed of racers, in this 
direction, and in that course, some fishing, and some coming 
to the ship to sell fish, or to get work. In fishing they throw 
out the line, tying the other end of it around their necks, 
and then paddle a head as fast as they can go. They soon 
tell if there be a bite at the bait by the pull of the fish on 
the cord around the neck. At the bow of the canoe is tied 
a strand of grass that is called gregrary. It is a supersti- 
tious expression of their belief that it secures safety to the 
boat and its owner. It was thirty-seven years ago on Mon- 
day of last week, (December 15, 1821,) that this land was 
purchased with the cognizance of the United States Govern- 
ment for the American Colonization Society, by Captain 
Stockton, of the United States navy, and Dr. Ayres, Agent 
of the Society. The purchase was made of the tribe that 
claimed the land. Possession was immediately taken of a 
small island in the Mesurado river, which was called Provi- 



36 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 



dence Island. Shortly afterwards the emigrants moved on 
to the Cape. Providence Island since that time has been so 
w^ashed by freshets, that now at high tide it is in two small 
strips of land, having a half dozen thatched native houses 
on them, with not land enough for a garden. When I went 
on shore, and passed through the streets, I was struck with 
the fact I was in the land of Africans. All the dwellers in 
Robertsport were blacks — but here, the town was laid out 
and improved. The race here presented themselves in an 
advanced state of improvement in every particular, of a dis- 
tinct community. I had indescribable feelings, not of mis- 
trust for my personal safety, nor of disgust at the race claim- 
ing and expecting equality of social position with me, but 
at seeing them in their present position in the absence of 
white persons. Here was to be seen the moulding of their 
own body politic. I saw around me respectful manners, bu- 
siness habits, and their attendant consequences, good dwel- 
lings. What I came to see, if it was practicable, that the 
black man could show a care of himself, that exhibited or- 
der, self-respect, comfort, social and political government, 
that was compatible with its continuance, I had evidence of 
it before my eyes. I was convinced I was in a well regula- 
ted town in its morals, its order, and cleanliness. I called 
on the President and others and delivered my letters of in- 
troduction. As I was in Rome, I meant to conform to Ro- 
manism in social intercourse, as it became my errand to the 
country. President Benson is a tall, slender framed gentle- 
man, easy in his manners, plain in his personal appearance, 
and very ready of speech. He is a descendant of the Afri- 
can race in a direct line. He removed with his father from 
Maryland to Liberia, in 1822. He was six years old at that 
time — consequently he must be forty-two years of age now. 
He has received his education and formation of character in 
Liberia. He has been a Senator, a Judge, and Vice Presi- 
dent of the Liberian Republic, and is now the people's Pres- 
ident; for he has been selected to the office without opposi- 
tion. The officers of the Government of Liberia are elected 
by citizens who own real estate. None others can vote. The 
President holds his office for two years, but is reeligible to 
it. It is an office of great patronage. He nominates, and 
with the advice and consent of the senate, appoints, and 
commissions, besides the members of his cabinet, and the 
embassadors, ministers and consuls, all judges of courts, 
sheriffs, coroners, marshals, justices of the peace, clerks of 
courts, registers, notaries of public, and all other offices of 
state, civil and military, whose appointment has not been 
provided for by the constitution or standing law. He can 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 37 



require information and advice from any public officer, 
touching matters pertaining to his office. 

I dined with Mr. H. W. Dennis, and had for dinner, fresh 
beef, bacon, chickens, sweet potatoes, cassada, and paw 
paw. The pawpaw tree grows from ten to twelve feet 
high, putting out broad leaves near to its top. The branches 
are few, and the fruit grows close to the body of the tree, 
varying in size from a man's fist to a youth's head. There 
are fifteen to twenty pawpaws in a cluster. The fruit ri- 
pens in four to five months. When ripe, it is yellowish, hav- 
ing lost its green color. The tree is in its prime in two 
years, and bears fruit five years. When boiled in its green 
state, the taste of it is like that of cymblings; when baked, it 
is like that of a rich apple pie, and when a little lemon is 
grated with it, you would wonder what kind of richly fla- 
vored apple do they have in Liberia to make pies of. When 
eat raw, the taste is like that of the citron melon. In a green 
state, they make an excellent preserve. There are two kinds 
of them in Liberia, the English and native. But the differ- 
ence is said to be chiefly in size; the English being the 
largest. Probably this is owing to the change from its origi- 
nal latitude, the West Indies. 

Monrovia is built on Cape Mesurado. The Cape is in 6° 
19' north lat., and 10° 48' west long. It rises two and a half 
miles back, and runs west, into the ocean, with a termina- 
tion of two hundred and forty feet high. On this termina- 
tion, the light house stands, forty feet high, which can be 
seen in a clear night, fifteen miles at sea. On the north 
side of the mount, one third of a mile from its west end, a 
sand bar puts out, and runs north, three-fourths of a mile, 
averaging three.hundred yards wide. We allude to this bar 
from the fact that every few years it gets its formation, and 
then is swept away within a few yards of the base of the 
mount — thus showing on the one hand the powerful heav- 
ings of the ocean, and the force of the Mesurado river when 
swollen by heavy rains, on the oiher hand. At the north end 
of this bar, the Mesurado river empties into the sea, having 
the south-east end of Bushrod Island for three-fourths of a 
mile for its other bank. The bar of this river is very bad to 
cross at certain stages of the wind, and always in the rainy 
season of the year. In its best state of water only vessels of 
forty tons can cross it. In the heavy rains of the wet sea- 
son, the Mesurado river being swollen by its tributaries, 
rushes past the length of the mount with such force, that 
when it strikes the sand bar, it refuses to turn its pourse, 
a,nd breaks the bar to the sea in a straight line, washing 
away the north point of the bar. In 1856 two-thirds of the 



38 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

bar I have noticed, was washed away by one of these fresh- 
ets, and since that time has been made as I have described 
it in its length and breadth. The time will probably come 
when a break-water will have to be built out from the Cape 
to make a better and more safe landing for Monrovia's im- 
ports and exports. And there is any quantity of stone at 
hand to do it at any time. When the bar is formed as it is 
now, it gives a curve to the river, and makes its channel on 
the eastern side of the sand bar. After crossing the bar, in 
the dry season, the water is smooth, and is mostly effected 
in its movements by the ebb and flow ol the tide. While 
lying off Monrovia, I crossed and recrossed the bar in the 
ship's boat, rowed by six oarsmen. At a certain stage of 
the tide, and a certain state of the wind, causing some swells 
from the mighty deep, under the guidance of our skillful 
Kroomen, it was very pleasant to cross it. At other times 
I was too much of a landsman to talk much in crossing it, 
and therefore sat in sober soliloquy — shall 1 be wet, or shall 
I not be wet. Near to the base of the mount on this sand 
bar is a settlement of Kroos containing some one hundred 
and thirty persons, living in fifty bamboo houses. Their res- 
idence here has been apparently of no moral advantage to 
them. They are natives still in dress, habits, and pursuits in 
life. 

The Cape has a false cape where it takes its eastern rise, 
and runs a south-eastern course one and three-fourths of a 
mile to the sea coast. Monrovia is laid out on the top, and 
on the north and south sides of the mount. At the bottom 
of the mount on its north side, ten stone ware-houses have 
been built, but in a very irregular line, on the banks of the 
river. The river Mesurado, abreast of the stores, is from 
two to two and a half fathoms deep. One of the stores is 
owned by the American Colonization Society to store away 
its stores for the six months support of the emigrants — an- 
other one is owned by a German trader, though the title of 
the land it sets on is held in the name of a Liberian — the 
rest of the ware-houses are owned by Liberians. It is the 
law of Liberia that "no person shall be entitled to hold real 
estate in the Republic unless he be a citizen of the same." 
By reason of the steepness of the mount you have to rise 
two-thirds of its ascent, (except in one part of the mount,) 
by circuitous foot paths. On this north side there are some 
thirty houses of small value, except those near to the sum- 
mit, which must have cost over $5,000 to build them; but 
they have no gardens, by reason of the rock spread out on 
the surface of the ground. The two main streets of Mon- 
rovia are Ashmun and Broadway. When you reach the top 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 39 

of the mount, you find the land gradually descends until it 
reaches the ocean, which is very distinctly seen from Ash- 
mun or Broadway streets. The main streets run east and 
west, and the cross streets run north and south: Ashmuu 
street is a mile and a half long, having many very good brick 
and framed two story houses on it; some of them costly 
buildings, considering the price of materials here. The 
President's mansion, (bought by the Government for $14,- 
000,) the Ex-President's new residence, the dwellings of Dr. 
Gill, and his brother, James, the Methodist High School 
building, and its church, the court house, and many private 
pleasant houses are on this street. I allude to these houses 
because they indicate that much money was laid out in their 
erection. Broadway runs from the light house the whole 
length of the mount, two and a half miles, being one hun- 
dred feet wide. A wheelbarrow could not be rolled one 
quarter of a mile on that part of the street that leads up for 
that distance to the light house, because of the rocks stand- 
ing so numerous, so large, and so high in their distinct forma- 
tions in the street. All of them were more or less singularly 
worn in groves from their tops down on their sides, by the 
rains of heaven, which have been beating on them periodi- 
cally every year since the days of the flood. The rock is a 
hard granite, strongly impregnated with iron ore. They are 
so distinct in their masses, that when you remove one, it 
shows no adhesion to its neighbor under it. My surprise was 
great to see that some individuals had selected town lots to 
build on in this hard part of the town. The view from the 
top of the light house is grand and extensive. At the ex- 
treme eastern end of Broadway, the American Colonization 
Society has had put up during the past year a new Recepta- 
cle similar in size and cost, to that put up at Cape Moutif. 
The Baptist and Presbyterian churches are on this street, 
and also a number of stone, brick and frame dwellin>gs; 
Some of the common framed dwellings showed marks of'the' 
visits of the bug-a-bug ant. On the other streets in the' 
town, here and there are some good dwelling houses. The 
better class of buildings generally have an old appearance. 
This is owing to the sun and winds, which draws out oil in 
the paint that has been put on the houses. But this sombre 
appearance is partially removed from the eye, by the great 
variety of trees and shrubs in all their rich green herbage, 
that stand in the gardens and yards, and on the side walks — 
as the orange, the lime, the mango plumb, and the oleanthus. 
The soil is clay, mixed with sand; but owing to long cultiva- 
tion without manure, very few lots show productiveness. 
The streets much used are kept very clean. It is a law of 



40 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

Liberia that every male, between sixteen and fifty years, 
shall work one day, four times a year, to keep the streets 
clean in a town; and those living on farm lots, to keep the 
highways clean in their township; the time can, if neces- 
sary, be extended to twelve days in the year. If a person 
refuses to work, when notified, and has no valid reason for 
the neglect, he is fined a dollar for each day's refusal, and the 
fine, after paying for its collection, goes to the benefit of the 
town to keep its streets clean. This law embraces all male 
natives from the age of sixteen years to sixty years, resident 
within the several townships. But as Monrovia is an in- 
corporated city, it raises money by taxation, to meet the ex- 
penses of keeping the streets clean, as well as for other 
purposes. I saw several persons in a chain gang doing the 
work of cleaning the streets. Such persons work to pay the 
fines laid on them for t|ie crimes they have committed. Any 
person or persons punished by fine in any of the courts, can 
be put to public labor to satisfy the fine and costs, if not paid 
otherwise — so all persons convicted of any crime punishable 
by imprisonment, can be hired out with the express order to 
secure the criminal by a chain of sufficient strength to keep 
him from running away. Theft, in which the property sto- 
len shall not be more than three dollars in value, is petty lar- 
ceny; if the property stolen is more than three dollars in 
value, it is grand larceny — the punishment may be a time of 
labor. The time of a Liberian is valued at $6 per month, 
and that of a native is valued at $3 per month. This class 
of persons are employed in Monrovia to keep her streets 
clean. The market house is built of brick. On Saturday 
of each week, I understood, there can be found at the market 
stalls, fresh meat of some kind, as beef, kid, mutton, and 
fresh pork, and sometimes venison. The place presents the 
extremes of plenty and want in a very marked manner. Per- 
haps a fair representation may be inferred of the state of 
those who do not feel the pinch of want, by referring 
to the valuation of property in the city. This valua- 
tion embraced only the dwellings and furniture, not notes, 
goods, nor lands outside of the city. By permission, I took 
from the collector's books these items: There are two hun- 
dred and seventy-nine tax payers. The property assessed is 
valued at $200,000. Five persons ranged from $8,000 to 
$10,000; forty-four rated from $1,000 to $8,000; fifty rated 
from $500 to $1,000; thirty-four rated from $2,00# to 
$500, while the balance rated from $200 down to $50. 
This would show that some of the inhabitants had been 
diligent in business, when their beginnings are remem- 
bered. I was convinced, and so remarked to the collector, 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 4 1 

that it was not an equal valuation. The stores and many 
of the dwelling houses had not been assessed at any thing 
like their cost and present value. I should judge that some 
of the citizens lived at the rate of $2,000 a year, others 
$1,500, others $1,000, and so on, down to a sum that might 
cover a good comfortable living in Africa. What I mean by 
this expression, is good food, plain dress, and a comfortable 
house to live in. Provisions are high. Beef, mutton, and 
kid, sell at twelve and a half cents per pound; fresh pork, 
twenty cents per pound; eggs thirty-seven and a half cents per 
dozen; butter fifty to sixty cents per pound; chickens twenty 
cents a piece; a turkey, two dollars. There are poor per- 
sons here from causes that operate in all places in every civ- 
ilized land. But there are poor persons in Monrovia from 
her own policy of action, in my judgment. She has more 
inhabitants than her land and business can give employment 
to. There is, and has been, a great effort to have the emi- 
grants to Liberia, acclimate in Monrovia. They have some 
money in their hands. During the acclimation that money 
is spent for things that are sold at a very high advance. At 
the end of the six months, the survivors, (some of them wid- 
ows with children) are without land to live on, and without 
means to get away from the place. Being accustomed to 
have provision made for their wants, they suffer the more 
from having those wants come upon themselves, to provide 
for, when they have no means at hand to meet them. They 
cannot get away to where land can be drawn by them to live 
on, for that removal must be made by hiring a boat to get to 
the land. Others not having exhausted their means, have 
formed acquaintances during the six months, and continue 
their stay, having no land, nor the possibility of drawing 
land at Monrovia, until their means are gone, and they be- 
come poor, very poor. Over six thousand have acclimated 
at this place. A great many of that number are sleeping 
the sleep ©f death in the grave yard; but many, too many, 
suffered from their poverty before they fell into that sleep, 
while others are now standing monuments — that it is a rare 
thing for them to taste meat, but at the hand of charity. I 
repeat it, that towns, large and small; in all civilized lands, 
have the poor in them; but Monrovia has a class of poor, who, 
if they had acclimated back in the country where there is 
farm land for them, would, I believe, in many instances, be 
now on their lands cultivating them; or if the fathers had 
fallen after acclimating, the widows and children would be 
deriving a support from the land. I think, in all candor, that 
Monrovia's policy to build up in numbers has put back Libe- 
ria both in numerical strength, and producers for her sup- 



42 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

port. Of course this has not been designedly the aim of 
Monrovia. It is the result of her policy. And that her pol- 
icy still aims at the acclimation of emigrants here, is seen 
in having, by the influence of some of her leading citizens, 
the new Receptacle put up in the town. 

From the Register's books I learned there are four hun- 
dred and twelve town lots, each of a quarter of an acre. 
Some of them, by reason of rock, and the declivity of posi- 
tion of others, remain as nature made the land. Many oth- 
ers had been drawn, and perhaps some of them used in their 
day, (for the town in part at least, was laid out in 1824,) but 
now lie turned out as "commons." Other lots have changed 
hands in some cases, twice, thrice, and four times, because 
the persons who had drawn them failed to put on them the 
legal improvements to get a deed for the lot in fee simple. 
To get a deed for a town lot or farm land, a person is re- 
quired^by law to put up a house of stone, or brick, or frame, 
or logs, weatherboarded, and roofed with tile, or slate, or 
shingles, within two years from the date of the certificate 
which states the lot has been drawn, and the time it was 
drawn. The farm land must have two acres cleared to get a 
deed for it. South of the town plot there is a body of land 
that stretches off' to the sea, lying east of the false Cape, but 
is embraced within the incorporated limits of the city. I re- 
fer again to the Register's books. This body of land contains 
four hundred and fifty-seven acres, and is divided as follows, 
viz: Thirty-nine five acre lots; three six acre lots; six eight 
acre lots; six nine acre lots; thirteen ten acre lots, and one 
twelve acre lot. Sixteen of these farm lots, making in all, 
forty-eight acres, are under cultivation, more or less. One 
of these farm lots is called the Benedict farm. But since the 
death of Judge Benedict, it does not meet the description 
that has been often given of it in the African Repository, by 
writers in Liberia. Many of the original owners of these 
farm lots have died, leaving no heirs; others still own their 
lots, but do not farm them; while a few natives of the Congo 
tribe cultivate for themselves, as squatters, a few acres near 
to the sea shore. The President of the Republic, as Presi-' 
dent, has given twenty acres of this farm land to the Trus- 
tees of the Liberia College, now being erected thereon. 
Such a body of land to Jie in commons does not bespeak 
much for the industry of the owners in general, nor for that 
class who have no land of their own, nor house where to 
lay their head, as their house. 

In whatever street I went, I saw cattle, sheep, goats, and 
swine running at large. Beside the streets, and open lots, 
they had the body of land alluded to above, as their "com- 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 43 

mons for food. There is no horse, nor mule here, nor is there 
a yoke of cattle. Cattle brought here from the interior, say 
forty to fifty miles, have to acclimate to live here. But it is 
not very fatal. The young of all the stock have their health 
so far as climate is concerned. It is, I believe, a fact in re- 
gard to cattle taken from the mountain counties to the tide 
water counties in Virginia, they have to acclimate to live 
there. The number I saw in Monrovia that have acclima- 
ted, and the number that have been calved here, and have 
grown up, is sufficient proof that oxen can live here. It is 
true, the reason given why there are no oxen used here, is, 
that they will not live if they are worked. That cattle can 
be worked in Liberia, I found true in Maryland county. 
There I found them drawing lumber three miles. Up the 
St. Paul's river oxen are used by some farmers; and when 
Richardson was alive, he worked oxen to plow his land. But 
in Monrovia, it seems oxen cannot be worked, because work 
kills them. The natives do the work of beasts of burden. 
There is one street leading from the river's bank to Ashmun 
street that could, in my judgment, be graded for less than 
$200, so that two yoke of bullocks, if necessary, though not 
larger than the cow I measured at Cape Mount, can take up 
a good load from the wharf to any lot on the mount; and yet 
that street has not been graded. It is true, on one occasion, 
within the memory of man, it was seen that the rocks in 
that street interfered with the walking in civil parade of 
Frenchmen and Liberians from the landing up into the 
town, and caused zig zag steps to the music, and the notice 
of the legislature was called to "the condition of that street," 
to guard against the repetition of such a mortifying occur- 
rence. But what is such an ephemeral occasion in compar- 
ison to the business requiring its improvement. All the brick 
and sand, all the lumber and nails, all the merchandize and 
groceries, yea, every thing but common unhewn stone, are 
brought up from the wharfs on men's heads, or backs, or in 
their arms, "by hook or by crook." What a strange sight 
in a civilized land to see cattle going about the streets, and 
a line of human carriers doing the work of beasts of bur- 
den. Twenty-five to thirty native men in single file carry 
on their heads the materials for the erection of a college 
building! Each one takes what is required, be it brick, or 
sand, or stone window sills, and carries his load over a mile, 
and returns for another load. Lumber is taken to the spot 
to be used by several natives, as the length and weight de- 
mands. I saw, I suppose a new improvement — a new cart, 
with some natives holding up the tongue, others guiding the 
cart by the tongue, others drawing the cart by a rope fast- 



44 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

ened to the bolster, and others behind pushing the cart. The 
cart was loaded with brick brought up on the head from the 
wharf, and deposited in the street. There was no necessity 
to give the words gee nor haw; the natives understood their 
own dialect and moved according to the word of command 
by the head native. The President of the college is acting 
on a system of economy and expedition, and certainly the 
plan works well in saving brute labor, in thus gathering- to- 
gether all the materials, except rough stone on the ground, 
for a brick building three stories high, 70 by 40 feet. But 
what is the erection of this college building to all the build- 
ings and the mercantile business of Monrovia, requiring this 
method of carriage of their materials. I found, also, that in 
taking a ride, a buggy had natives harnessed to it, and 
according to the wind of the animals^ the buggy wheels re- 
volved in velocity. I certainly did not admire such a lev- 
elling practice as an elevating principle to raise their heathen 
brothers. The Constitution of Liberia expresses this noble 
sentiment — "one great object of forming the Republic is to 
regenerate and enlighten this benighted continent." Had 
the place no cattle, the plea of necessity to take what kind 
of laborers that would do the work needed, could be sus- 
tained. But having cattle, I am afraid the natives are em- 
ployed because they can be paid in articles of barter, as 
cloth, tobacco, &c., that the per centage charged on them 
left a large margin for profits, even fov poor labor. 

Standing near to the Receptacle, there is a full view of 
the surrounding country. From this position the localities 
around Monrovia are to be seen without mistake. Bushrod 
Island is in plain sight. It has for five miles on the north 
side, the Atlantic ocean — for four and a half miles on the 
north-east side, the St. Paul's river — for eight miles on the 
east side, Stockton creek, and for three-fourths of a mile at 
its south end, the Mesurado river. If all the land which can 
be cultivated on the Island in the dry and wet season were 
brought into one tract, it might equal one hundred and eighty 
acres of land. The rest is in swamp land. Formerly a 
small tract of land on the Atlantic boundary was cultivated 
under the direction of the Governors of the Colony. The 
natives have two small patches of ground in cultivation on 
the St. Paul's boundary, and not far from their location, a 
Liberian has a small farm for cassada, sweet potatoes, ed- 
does, and other vegetables, with different kinds of fruit. And 
I would state, I found on it an avenue from the river to a 
email brick house fifty feet wide, with a row on each side of 
large fine mango plumb trees. On the Stockton creek, there 
is no spot that a Liberian can pitch his tent, while on the 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 45 

banks of the Mesurado river, a few natives have put up a 
few thatched houses to live in, while they seek a living by 
fishing, or occasional work obtained in Monrovia. The Island 
may he called a mangrove swamp. The mangrove is a shrub 
or tree peculiar to tropical countries. They are confined in 
their growth to low water courses. "Their branches are 
long, hang down to the earth, and take root and produce 
new trunks. In this manner there is a constant growth that 
makes an impenetrable forest of them, to be removed only 
by the axe or cutlass. The seeds are remarkable for throw- 
ing out roots, which grow amidst trees. They present an 
impenetrable barrier to man and beast." Encyp. Here 
and there rises high above the mangrove the tree that tells 
of a dry spot for its roots to run. The tide rises and over- 
flows this land, and the sun sends his rays where the water 
remains standing, and on leaves of decaying matter that lie 
uncovered by the retiring tide. On the other bank of Stock- 
ton creek, for five miles up to the mouth of Ayres creek, 
there is but one continuous mangrove swamp. Ayres creek 
takes off'from the Stockton creek, having a mangrove swamp 
on both sides of it to its enterance into the Mesurado river, 
which river has for some distance up its stream mangrove 
swamps on each side of its banks. Monrovia is connected 
to the main land by solid land that is three miles wide, lying 
back of the Cape. I have not exagerated this surrounding 
prospect — for country — it cannot be called. These swamps 
emit a noisome stench, especially at low water. The mi- 
asma rising from them must effect the health of Monrovia. 
Past emigrations tell a sad tale about its healthiness, as an 
acclimating rendezvous. There is too much proof that the 
tale is true. Dr. Roberts, a physician, in the employ of the 
American Colonization Society, wrote to the Secretary of 
that society in 1849, thus: "In my opinion it (that is, the 
Virginia settlement on the St. Paul's river,) is certainly the 
better place for immigrants to be a '-climated. There being 
a great quantity of iron ore incorporated in the rock which 
is abundant in the town of Monrovia, the heat must be 
greatly increased, and thus a stranger must be sensibly af- 
fected. And when attacked by the fever, under such disad- 
vantageous circumstances, the prostration is greater and 
more protracted; and, again, Monrovia is bounded on the 
north, and on the north-east, by extensive mangrove swamps, 
which emit a great deal of miasma. This is wafted in 
and through the town by the morning breeze. This poison 
impregnating the air, being inhaled by foreigners early in 
the morning on empty stomachs, cannot but deleteriously af- 



46 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

feet the system, and add to the severity of the fever." There 
is a Receptacle in the Virginia settlement, and it had been 
erected at the time referred to in the foregomg quotation. 
Dr. Roberts had been there attending on a company of emi- 
grants during the season of their acclimation. His services 
had been rendered prior to this time referred to in Monro- 
via. It is due to Dr. Roberts to say he is now a perma- 
nent resident of Monrovia. At the time he gave the opinion 
quoted, he could, by his own agreement, be removed to any 
place in Liberia to attend to emigrants that the society 
thought it best to locate him at for acclimation. At this time 
the Doctor has the opinion that Monrovia is not an un- 
healthy place for emigrants to acclimate in. I heard it stated 
by high authority in Monrovia, that the town was a healthy 
place, and that the water of the Mesurado river absorbed all 
the miasma that rose up from the mangrove swamps, so that 
the wind had nothing impure to raise up as high as the 
mount to affect the health of the old or new citizens. The 
reader can form his own opinion, and the master emancipa- 
ting his slaves, can decide upon Monrovia as the place he 
will send them to, in order to prepare them to live in Libe- 
ria. In all candor, I say it is not easy to solve in my mind 
10% emigrants for ^^<77*6r past have been stopped here to accli- 
mate. I returned to the ship wondering as the past history 
of Colonization, connected with this place, came up in my 
mind. The thermometer at 7, P. M., in the cabin, was 82°. 
December 27. The thermometer in the cabin at 7 A. M., 
was 77°. I went on shore to get a row-boat to go up Stock- 
ton creek; and to visit New Georgia. I saw this morning in 
Monrovia several persons from Kentucky. Among the num- 
ber was a lad named James Hines. He had lost his father 
and mother by death. He was bound out to learn the car- 
penters trade. The probate court of a county has authority 
to hind out as an apprentice every orphan child who has no 
estate to support him or her, until the age of twenty-one 
years, if a boy, or eightecm years, if a girl, to any discreet 
person applying for, or is willing to take the child. The 
master or mistress receiving the child covenants to teach the 
child the trade which he or she may follow; and also to in- 
struct, or cause to be instructed, said apprentice in reading, 
writing, and arithmetic, and to give the apprentice, at the 
end of the time of serving, $12. The indenture has two 
stipulations: 1. The indentures are not transferable except 
by and the consent of the probate court. 2. The probate 
court, on complaint of the master of the apprentice, can rem- 
edy the complaint; and so, also, when the apprentice com- 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 47 

plains to the court against the master or mistress. A parent 
or guardian has also the privilege to bind out his child or 
ward as the case may be. I saw, also, a woman from Har- 
rodsburg; her husband was dead, and had left property 
enough for her support. When any person dies intestate, it 
is made the duty of the probate court in the county in which 
the deceased person resided, to appoint an administrator to 
settle it; the administrator giving bond and security in double 
the estimated value of said intestate's estate. One year is 
allowed to settle the estate without cause is shown to the 
Judge to continue the time; but the Judge cannot extend the 
time but six months. 

I took a boat and started up Stockton creek. I have stated 
that the creek empties into the Mesurado river opposite to 
Monrovia. Its whole bar is almost bare at low water in the 
dry season. 1 found its deepest part not over two feet. Af- 
ter crossing the bar it is five feet deep, and ranges from that 
to seven feet as you go up its stream. I say up its stream, 
but it is an ambiguous term in its application to this creek. 
There is such a singularity in the waters of the creek, that it 
may be called a compound delta. The St. Paul's river is di- 
vided into two streams seeking their wa^ to the ocean. St. 
Paul's river proper, and Stockton creek passing off from the 
St. Paul's river, and after running four miles, taking off a 
part of its water to form Ayres creek, which creek likewise 
mingles its waters in the Mesurado river with those that 
flow on to the same river in Stockton creek proper. The ebb 
tide passes up from the Mesurado river in both of these 
creeks, Ayres and Stockton, to where the Ayres creek comes 
out of the Stockton from the St. Paul's river, and the ebb 
tide of the St. Paul's river flows into the Stockton creek. 
The water at high tide is at a stand both in the Ayres creek 
and in the Stockton creek at the mouth of the Ayres creek. 
At the mouth of Ayres creek it is high tide when it is high 
tide in the St. Paul's river, and high tide in the Mesurado 
river. When the flood tide commences at the mouth of 
Ayres creek the water falls opposite ways — one portion goes 
down the Ayres creek, another portion goes down the Stock- 
ton creek to the Mesurado river, and another portion goes 
down — or, more properly speaking, goes up — the Stockton 
creek to the St. Pauls river. On entering the Stockton creek 
from the St. Pauls river, having come down it with a. flood- 
tide, you meet with an opposite current, until you come to 
Ayres creek, and then you take a flood-tide to the Mesurado 
river. A half mile above the mouth of Ayres creek there is 
a bank some two feet above high water where I landed, and 



48 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

found a dyke had been thrown up to make a dry way in the 
wet season for a half mile to 

NEW GEORGIA. 

In 1827, the United States Government sent to Liberia 
one hundred and forty-three Africans who had been brought 
into the country contrary to the law forbidding the importa- 
tion of slaves into the United States after the year 1808. 
The Government paid the expense of their removal in part, 
to Liberia. They were located at this place. Why they 
were located at this place, when its local position is taken 
into consideration for health, and Caldwell, on the St. Paul's 
river, had been settled for two years, with two hundred and 
eighteen emigrants, I do not know, nor can I tell how long 
they lived in the United States before they were sent to Li- 
beria; but it is a singular fact, that out of the one hundred 
and forty -three persons, three of them died by the African 
fever. They belonged to the Congo and Ebo tribes. In 
1830, the United States Government sent ninety-two of the 
same class of Africans to Liberia, who were also located at 
this place. Two of this number died by the African fever. 
Beside these two emigrations, up to 1844, only nine eman- 
cipated slaves from North Carolina, and thirty-four free 
blacks from Georgia have settled here, who came direct to Li- 
beria. Some have been added to the number by removal from 
other settlements, through intermarriage chiefly, as in the 
case of those sent to Liberia by R. Bibb, Esq., dec'd. of Lo- 
gan county, Kentucky. 

New Georgia has two principal streets, on which most of 
the inhabitants reside. Some few cross-streets have dwel- 
lings on them. One hundred and fitty-nine town lots of one- 
fourth of an acre have been drawn, but not more than 
twenty-one of them are now occupied by the original set- 
tlers, because they are too far off from their farm lands. The 
soil is a white sand with very little loam in it. The streets 
are remarkably clean. The houses are mostly of one story, 
and are framed buildings; other houses are built of poles, 
daubed with clay. All the houses are raised from two to three 
feet from the ground, and are placed on pillars of wood or 
brick, to give a free circulation of air, especially in the wet 
season. This practice prevails in Liberia. They have no 
stone in this settlement. The improved lots are planted 
with cassada, sweet potatoes, eddoes, yams, beans, melons, 
cucumbers, &c., with a suitable proportion of the pawpaw, 
pine apple, tamarind, cocoa nut, orange, lime, guavo, plan- 
tain, and banana. The yam is a herbacious vine; the roots 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 49 



are larger than the cassada. With great attention to their 
cultivation, and in rich soil, they will be two and a half feet 
long, and weigh fifteen to twenty pounds. They are a very 
nutricioLis and a wholesome vegetable. They are fit for use 
in four nionths, and yield abundantly. The pine apple grows 
wild in the woods. But when domesticated they are richer 
and more palatable than the wild ones. The apple grows 
out of a stalk fifteen inches from the ground, surrounded 
with prickly branches, with similar leaves putting out at its 
top. They are considered injurious to emigrants while hav- 
ing the acclimating fever, but it is difiicult to keep the hands 
of such persons off of them. The tamarind is a large tree 
of the size of an old black heart cherry tree. It bears a pod 
two and a half inches long, and an inch broad. Its "meat 
is like that of the honey locust, except that it is more acid." 
The cocoa nut is a beautiful tree. Its long curved leaves 
hang down from the top of the body of the tree, which has 
run up thirty feet. The fruit puts out at the root of the 
leaves from the tree, in clusters. They come to perfection m 

months. The orange is in size and branches, like an 

apple tree, and bears twice a year, having the oranges scat- 
tered in its branches. Thev can be found on some of the 
trees every month in the year, though the principal ripening 
of them is in May and June, and in November and Decem- 
ber. There can be seen al the same time on the trees the 
bud, the blossom, the full formed fruit, and the ripe fruit. 
They have two kinds, the sweet and the sour. The sweet 
are better than the Havana and the New Orleans oranges. 
Tlje lime is much like the orange tree in its growth and yield, 
but differs in size, the lime being the smallest in growth. 
The guava tree abounds here. It is like to our peach tree. 
The guava is not fit to eat from the tree, but makes a very 
rich preserve. Its size is that of a common peach. The 
Georgians spoke the English languao:e with a foreign ac- 
cent. Their children had not that accent in their speech. 
They were ready to give me information in regard to their 
means of support, their productions, their schools, and their 
religious privileges. They raised cotton, spun it, and in 
socne measure, wove it into cloth. Their dress, the cultiva- 
tion of their land, their social intercourse, and their religious 
improvement, bespoke much for their comfort, their industry, 
and morals. Order seemed to prevail throughout their town. 
In their yards, and at iheir doors, I could see the female 
members of the households in their every day dress, brought 
out of their houses from curiosity to see me, a white person, 
walking up and down their streets, gazing at what I saw in 
their town. 1 was very much gratified at the cleanlinesa 
4 



50 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

and good manners I witnessed among them as a body — for 
there was a difference in the comforts and stj'le of the peo- 
ple. In every place there will be, and must be, for good or- 
der, males and females, who have proper ideas of what con- 
stitutes a good, orderly, and moral society, and who will 
give a particular personal exhibition of its several parts in 
their daily life. They have two churches, Methodist and 
Baptist, two day schools, and two Sabbath schools. Many 
of the children read and spelt for me, showing that they had 
an "aptness to learn." There is a standing law in Liberia 
that sets apart $1,000 a year to be divided in the several 
counties in the Republic, according to the number of chil- 
dren, to sustain schools for their instruction. But as long as 
the church in the United States support the schools in Libe- 
ria, there will not be found $1,000 in the Ti-easury of the 
Republic to be distributed for educational purposes in the 
counties. The door yards were fenced in with rived pales, 
or with poles well wattled together. In the yards I saw 
chickens and moscova ducks, and sheep and goats in the 
streets. They once owned cattle, but having no use for 
them, they stopped raising them. Their main reliance in 
cultivating the earth is the hoe, and the bill hook, similar in 
form to a pruning knife, but longer, with a short handle. 
Great contentment prevailed among them. I need not say 
they were citizens of the Republic, and that the officers of 
their town were elected out of their own class of persons. 
I did not see a mulatto among them. I went into a house 
and stated I would be glad to have dinner, but with no spe- 
cial preparation for it, as I wished to see what could be fur- 
nished me on such a call, to eat. I was soon seated at a ta- 
ble, having before me cold mutton, cassada, rice and sweet 
potatoes. The mutton was not as fat as Kentucky mutton, 
but it was sweet, tender and juicy. I was pleased with my 
dinner. They gave to me to drink, the juice of the grana- 
dilla. It grows on a vine. Its fruit is as large as the cante- 
lope when picked for pickles. The rind is thick, and when 
dry, is as hard as that of the gourd. It has a mucilage, 
which, when cooked, makes an excellent pie. When ripe, 
it is eat with its seeds which are soft, with some sugar 
sprinkled over it. The taste of it is like that of the straw- 
berry. When the juice is expressed out of the pulp and 
drank, the taste of the strawberry is not gone. It is a pleas- 
ant drink. Its color is like that of milk and water. I found 
the water soft, but to me it was not good, having a marshy 
taste. They get water by digging ten feet. The town has 
swamps on each side of it but one. It has, by a narrow 
strip of dry land, a connection with Caldwell. The land 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 51 

immediately adjoining the town is so wet that they have to 
go some distance to get farm lands. I took a canoe and 
went up a creek to see their farm lands. The creek winds 
its way among mangrove swamps on each side of its banks, 
being about twenty yards wide. Its current was not strong. 
When the creek took a turn I discovered a rise of land on 
the point in the bank; this indicates that the ground back 
from the creek is higher land than that on the opposite side. 
On going ashore at such places, I found a tract of cleared 
land, which no doubt had been cleared by the natives who 
had lived here in days gone by. In some of these clearings 
there would be sixty acres, in others, one hundred acres, and 
in others, one hundred and fifty acres. In every instance I 
saw a strip of woods in the rear of the clearing running 
something in the form of a half circle around a third or two 
thirds of the cleared land. On going to this strip of woods, 
I would find a stream of water coming from a wet spot on 
the tract of land, taking its winding way in the midst of the 
woods, and running off until it met with a similar stream 
coming from an adjoining tract of land, and when united, 
went off to some creek that had been made up by such rivu- 
lets back in the country. This I found to be the prevailing 
feature in the formation of land in Liberia. As you go back 
from the rivers, the tracts of land will vary in size, having 
the stream of water in its rear; and the width of the stream 
would also vary in breadth and rapidity of flow. In many 
cases where the land was of a champain character, there 
would be wet land on each side of the stream. In some 
cases the wet land would be wider than others; but which, 
land, when cleared, would be dry in the dry season, and not 
too wet in the wet season for cultivation. Such portions of 
land were invariably rich, and most generally of a deep 
black loam. The running water would be sweet and good, 
according to the location of the land, and would be still bet- 
ter if vegetable matter falling into it was kept out. This 
feature of the country secures water for man and beast, for 
if in the dry season it is abundant for such purposes, it 
certainly will give a supply of water in the wet season. 
There will be no occasion in Liberia for that particular prayer 
that was offered in the land of Canaan by the Isrealites,: 
"turn again our captivity, Lord, as the streams in the 
South." In the south of Canaan the streams dry up in the 
summer, and in the winter the streams are supplied with 
an abundance of water. But here in Liberia, "God has 
opened rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of 
the valleys. He has made the wilderness a pool of water, 
and the dry land, springs of water." Many of these swampy 



62 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

■trips of land may now be unhealthy, but if cleared, so that 
the sun shines upon the land, that doubt would be removed, 
while the farmer would be rewarded in the wet season with 
heavy crops of rice and other productions needing dampness 
of soil. The farm lands of the Georgians altogether, were 
five hundred and fifty-five acres, divided into lots of five to 
ten acres. About one hundred and thirty acres were in cul- 
tivation. There was not a sign of a fence on the lands, nor 
of the use of the plow. The owners had not "all things in 
common," but made artificial boundaries by a row of sweet 
potatoes, or black eyed peas, to designate their "posses- 
sions." The land was good, with clay soil much mixed with 
Band. And if turned up by the plow would show better 
cassada, American corn, sugar cane, eddoes, yams, &c., than 
I saw growing on it. And it is certain they and their pos- 
terity will not have cattle if their lands lie uninclosed by 
fences. I returned to the town with this conviction — this is 
is not a healthy place for new emigrants from the United 
States. It is strange that the natives of this coast can settle 
down on land surrounded by mangrove swamps, and have 
their health. I passed by their burying ground; for wherever 
man lives on earth, he must build "the city of the dead." I 
saw at the head and foot of the graves a simple but lasting 
expression of the remembrance of the living for their dead. 
It was a shrub that is called the soap tree, from the fact, that 
the leaves, when stirred up in water, makes a suds that is 
used for washing clothes. The bible teaches us "that cor- 
ruption shall put on incorruptiony I saw in one of the 
streets cannon planted in positions that would testify, if ne- 
cessary, that the Georgians were prepared to receive their 
enemies. They can muster seventy -five men. The law of 
Liberia requires every able bodied male citizen of the Repub- 
lic, between the ages of sixteen and fifty, to be enrolled in 
the militia. This people have not received additions to their 
numbers by new arrivals of emigrants since 1835. Some of 
their youth have moved to other settlements in Liberia; still 
they more than hold their own in population. I found more 
children born here in proportion to the population of the 
place, than I found in any settlement that I visited in Libe- 
ria. In 1844 the population was two hundred and sixty- 
four; in 1854 it was two hundred and ninety-four. Those 
natives who had died, who came from the United States, 
had chiefly died of diseased brain, or diseased lungs. There 
is no sugar nor cofl!ee raised here for exportation. What 
they raise to sell they take in canoes to Monrovia, down the 
Stockton creek. As I was leaving the town, some of the 
fathers in age, would have me call at the Methodist church, 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 53 

and see a swarm of bees in it. Of course, I must gratify 
them, and also gratify myself by seeing that peculiar body 
in a house of worship, and hear their music. I found a 
swarm of bees had entered the church, and taken possession 
of the Sabbath school library book case, in consequence of 
the door not fitting tight, and they were very busy, as all 
such bees are, and were working learnedly too, in making 
honey. As I looked at some boys who had followed us, their 
eyes, and the bend of their heads, said, as they have depriv- 
ed us of the books for some weeks past, we will, at the proper 
time, dispossess them of the benefit of their labor. 

I bade this people farewell, with the full conviction that 
the gospel of Christ, with its attendant means, as education, 
civilization, and a proper sense of duty that man owes to his 
fellow man, in a social and civil state of life, can, and will, 
elevate the heathen in religion, in knowledge and manners 
of life. Here has been this evidence before m}^ eyes. And 
their children coming on the stage of life, with these advan- 
tages, (which their fathers possessed not in their youth,) will 
act with higher views from their citizenship, and with more 
enlarged ideas arising from the spiritual, social, and political 
benefits furnished them by living in Liberia, than they could 
possibly have had, if they had been born, and lived, and 
died in the United States. The boat being ready for me, 
we took our w^ay down the Stockton creek. As we moved 
on, I saw an alligator apparently five feet long stretched on 
the bank of the creek, left bare by the fall of the tide. It is 
said the alligator is very timid of man. This one gave evi- 
dence it was so with him, for as we approached him, he 
darted into the water, and was lost to our sight. I noticed 
on the creek a large fly called the mangrove fly. Its bite 
is very painful; and on going near to the mangroves to avoid 
the force of the tide from the causes we have before stated, 
the fly makes an attack upon the passers by for blood. The 
Kroomen having no clothing on, are the greatest sufferers. 
No dancing master ever used his legs as quick as these men 
would when one of these flies lit on their legs. The leg 
would be raised with the knowledge where it w^ould strike 
the fly on the other leg, while the oar would be plied as if 
nothing had been done but to row the boat to the quick reg- 
ular time of his associate's oars. The fly never annoyed 
again when struck. At 7 P. M., I was on board of the ship, 
and found the thermometer was 80°. 

December 27. The thermometer at 7, A. M., stood at 82o. 
This day being the Sabbath, I went on shore to attend pub- 
lic worship in Monrovia. I visited the graveyard where 
sleep a great many dead. It is not inclosed. The place is 



54 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

overgfrown with grass and bushes, except where the rich, 
and the missionaries, and their families are buried. Here 
and there a spot is cleared for a new grave to be used. Where 
the rich lie buried, the land is kept clean, and many tomb- 
stones, brought from the United States, tell the visitor who 
is buried where they stand. I attended worship at the Pres- 
byterian church, and preached to a very attentive congrega- 
tion. Nothing attracted my special attention but the ready 
use of the bible and psalm book by the people. After ser- 
vice, I dined with Mr. James, who emigrated from the State 
of New York. He is an Elder in the Presbyterian church, 
a teacher of day a school, and the Judge of the Probate 
Court of this county. We had lor dinner bacon, fresh beef, 
palm butter, rice, eddoes, and sweet potatoes, and for our 
desert, guava sweet meats, and pawpaw pie. The palm butter 
is made by washing the palm nuts, boiling them, washing 
them, and separating all the stringy parts from the mass. The 
cleansed parts are then boiled. While boiling, the season- 
ing is put in, as red pepper, salt, and what spice you prefer, 
with chickens, or fresh meat, or fresh fish cut up. All is 
boiled until the meat is done. Is not this a "dainty dish to 
set before a King?" At 3 P. M., I met the four Sabbath 
schools in the town at the Methodist church, with their re- 
spective teachers. There were probably two hundred chil- 
dren present. Great attention was given to the address. I 
had a motive to set before the teachers and scholars, that I 
never had when addressing Sabbath schools at home. It 
was the character they themselves should have in Liberia and 
their connection to the natives in the land for their moral 
and civil improvement. The children appeared well in their 
dress, to the credit of their parents, and sat with great still- 
ness in the pews, to the credit of their teachers. I returned 
to the ship at 5 P. M. At 2 P. M. the thermometer in the 
shade stood at 84°. At 7 P. M., in the cabin, at 82°. 

December 28. The thermometer in the cabin at 7 A. M. 
was 75°. It rained very hard about 4, A. M. On shore, at 
half past 7, A. M., the thermometer stood at 75°. I went up 
by Stockton creek to the 

CALDWELL SETTLEMENT, 

on the south bank of the St. Paul's river. The tempera- 
ture of the water of the creek at 10, A. M., was 78°. The 
Stockton creek, where it takes off from the St. Paul's river, 
has a sand bar putting off from its western bank to within 
twenty- five feet of its eastern bank on the Caldwell side, 
which gives a channel of four feet of water at low tide, and 
seven feet at high tide. The boundary line between Cald- 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 55 

well and New Georgia, is three miles down the Stockton 
creek. The St. Paul's river where we entered it is about 
seven hundred yards wide. Thirt}^ yards from the Caldwell 
shore I found the river was two fathoms deep. At half past 
10, A. M., on the St. Paul's river, in the boat, the thermome- 
ter was 80°. When we entered on the waters of the St. 
Paul, we did not find ourselves in a "wilderness where the 
waters break out." It was an open country, with dwellings 
dotted at proper intervals on the banks of the river, whose 
waters at low tide were fresh and fit for drink and domestic 
use. The banks of the St. Paul's river, on the Caldwell 
side, were from ten to twenty-five feet above high tide wa- 
ter. Our landing place was at a foot bridge, built out ten 
feet into the river, for the special benefit of Mr. F. T. Clark, 
a Liberian, and his guests; while his fellow townsmen could 
use it in going to and from the river on business or pleas- 
ure. A sign hung out at the bridge that said Mr. Clark 
sold crackers, cakes, beer, and cigars, to all who favored 
him with a call in his line of business. It was a capital idea 
in hanging up such a sign on this high way of nature, that 
passers by who might be hungry, could know there was a 
good "Boniface" at hand to furnish them with food. I bought 
a good string of mullet fish from "mine host," when I re- 
turned to the ship for my supper. Mr. Clark lived in a one 
story brick house. He had two lots inclosed with a living 
plumb stake hedge, which in time will have to be thined out, 
leaving a most beautiful range of trees for a neat lattice to 
be put up between them. His yard was level, and the sand, 
its natural soil^ was as white as nature ever makes it. The 
yard was cleanliness itself. Interspersed, were "the herb 
yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding seed after his kind, 
and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his 
kind." I was thus ushered into Caldwell. It was originally 
laid out six miles long on the banks of the St. Paul's river. 
There being a creek midway, that empties into the river, 
the town has taken the name of upper and lower Caldwelli, 
This town was commenced in 1825. There have been drawn 
by its settlers, three hundred and three town lots, and sev- 
enty-six farm lots, from five to ten acres each. Lots that 
were once improved, and farm lands that were once cultiva- 
ted, are now "in the commons." Much, very much, is aban- 
doned, that once was a "delight." Here Tion Harris lived, 
who told in Kentucky of his farm, his horses, and cattle, 
and sheep, and corn, and sugar cane — and he told the truth. 
But alas, his lands, as well as others, are as "an oak whose 
leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water." And he 
himself is with the dead, having been killed by lightning. 



56 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

Comparatively, in lower Caldwell, (where most of the first 
settlements were made,) but few lots are improved, and a 
great body of the farm land is lying out unimproved. The 
soil for a mile back from the river is sandy, and from past 
cultivation, is very poor. The wild grass has taken posses- 
sion of it. There has been much disputing in years pa.«t in 
this township in regard to land titles. Neighborhood alter- 
cations sprung up — many lost a portion of their lands — oth- 
ers lost all their improvements, and many moved away, 
while others, who remained, became indifferent in the im- 
provements of their lands, expecting to lose the title to them. 
The Legislature of Liberia attempted, by the appointment 
of Commissioners, to give the people relief, but it was at- 
tended with too much delay and trouble, and what was done 
by them did not give entire satisfaction. These causes no 
doubt have occasioned much of the change that is now evi- 
dent to one who had read of its improvements. For fifteen 
years but few emigrants have taken up their abode here. 
There are many of the lots inclosed, having on them good 
brick or framed dwellings, while other lots would have poor 
buildings on them, and be uninclosed. The people showed 
a great difference in their industry, their improvements, and 
the articles they cultivated. This was more apparent in 
lower Caldwell than in upper Caldwell. To form some es- 
timate of an improved lot, I found a man asking $1200 for 
his town lot and dwelling house on it. He wished to sell to 
move to Maryland county. A much larger sum would be re- 
quired to buy other improved property in upper Caldwell. 
Some of the houses cost a larger sum than $1200, independ- 
ent of the improvements on the lot. Some of the people 
raised chiefly, cassada, sweet potatoes, eddoes, and garden 
vegetables, as beans, peas, melons, &c., while others would 
raise these articles, and cultivate cane, corn, cotton, arrow 
root, coffee and yams. But I regret to say, none of the ar- 
ticles raised were exported farther than to Monrovia. In 
lower Caldwell I saw a horse at a distance, grazing in the 
fields. I went up to him and found he had a rope around 
his neck with an end hanging down two feet long. Without 
the fear of the owner before my eyes, and with jovial thoughts 
in my mind, I sprang upon his back and away we went up 
hill and down. He rode very rough, but very feelingly to a 
certain part of me. He knew his keeper's gate, and took 
me directly there, delivering me up as an adventurer. The 
horse belonged to President Benson, and had been sent here 
to acclimate. I understood he was bought for $35, and was 
raised fifty miles back in the interior. He is eight years old, 
four feet two inches high, and five feet two inches long from 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 57 

the ears to the root of the tail. He was a dark sorrel, broke 
to the saddle, but not to the harness. He had been a month 
in Caldwell, and was doing well. They spoke of him as 
having two more inches to grow in height, as if they were 
accustomed to the growth of horses in Liberia. The man 
who had charge of the horse, had on his lot a great variety 
of fruit, as tamarind, mulberry, guava, mango plumb, peach, 
citron, lime, &c. The peach is the shape of a large quince. 
It has fourteen stones in it. The tree grows some twelve 
feet high. The taste of the peach is very much like a per- 
simmon before the frost touches it. I measured one which 
was sixteen inches in circumference. They make, it is said, 
an excellent preserve. The skin is brown and rough. I saw 
in the porch of his house a box with some spring wheat 
growing in it. The wheat was fifteen inches high and look- 
ed well. He was nursing it to get seed to sow, and learn 
whether he could raise wheat on his land. I hope he will 
be successful. The thermometer at noon in the shade, was 
84°. The water in the spring and well was soft, but not as 
good as that I drank at Cape Mount. Its temperature both 
in well and spring, was 76°. There is better land a mile 
and a half back from the river. It is in the vicinity of what 
is called the Redwood swamp. I found on this range of 
land two Kentuckians — one a man, from the estate of Miss 
Ov^erton, Fayette county, and the other a woman, from the 
estate of Mr. Thomas, Shelby county. I dined at the wo- 
man's house. She had married since her arrival in Liberia. 
I had for dinner chickens, fresh fish, sweet potatoes, and ed- 
does, with coffee, and syrup of cane grown on her husband's 
land. There were three men sent from the estate of Mr. 
Thomas — all were dead. Two of them were intemperate, 
and advanced in years. Intemperate persons are handled 
very roughly by the African fever. The man from Fayette 
county, is one whom I told, before he started from Ken- 
tucky, he ought not to go to Liberia, because he was too un- 
stable and simple. But here was Isaac on his farm of ten 
acres. He owned thirty acres in another place. His land 
was rich, and it showed that he had done much work on it. 
He had built him a house, married a wife, and had a child. 
He showed to me his poultry, his garden vegetables, his cof- 
fee trees, his corn, his cassada, his sweet potatoes, and the 
swamp land he was clearing to sow rice and American corn 
in. How different was the condition of this man to what I 
thought it would be in Liberia. He had but $5 left of his 
money when he landed in Liberia. *'Truly the race is not 
to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." Isaac had planted 
some corn that is called Lagos corn. It comes to perfection 



58 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

in eight weeks. It is very small; the kernels about the size 
of pop corn. Lagos lies on the southern coast of Africa, 
four hundred miles from Cape Palmas. Rice grows on such 
swamp land very abundantly. Twelve bushels, it is said, 
have been taken from an acre. The cotton that is raised is 
used chiefly for stockings and house purposes. Back of this 
Redwood swamp there is another tract of land with a stream 
running as a boundary between it and another tract; then 
comes swamps, some of them having connection by their 
waters with those that extend to Monrovia. I found the hoe 
and the bill hook the great implements of husbandry. There 
was no horse here but the sorrel; no cattle in lower Cald- 
well, but some in upper Caldwell. There were some sheep, 
and goats, and swine. Not an acre is plowed in the town- 
ship. Of the six hundred and thirty-four acres of farm lots 
that have been drawn, perhaps not one hundred and thirty 
acres were in cultivation. When 1 use the term cultivation, 
do not include the land that has coffee trees set out on it. 
I found the people, except a lonely single woman from South 
Carolina, contented with their homes. No one but the wo- 
man referred to, expressed a wish to return to the United 
States to live. I saw abundant evidence that a family would 
not starve on a quarter of an acre of land well cultivated — 
but a larger piece of land would furnish more food, and the 
dainties of the tropics, in greater abundance. But it is too 
plain, the people as a body, aim only to obtain food and 
clothing for the present time. That being secured, their 
time is given to that which satisfieth not, and makes no ad- 
vance to what might be their position as rich farmers. They 
are certainly in advance of what they were when they land- 
ed here. They are not dissipated, nor immoral, nor licen- 
tious, but too well contented with their present way of la- 
bor. Having the necessaries of life, the novelty of the new 
associations that arise from living on their own land as citi- 
zens of their own Republic, seems to have satisfied them, 
and more than rewarded the expectations that their inexpe- 
rience of liberty, and the location of themselves in their own 
country, had led them to anticipate. They need to be roused 
up to improve their advantages to do greater things, and be 
more energetic to come up to the stature of free men. They 
plead as an excuse for their present position, their great des- 
titution of money when they commenced their life here. This 
is true, and must have its weight in considering what a people 
ot energy, in a land yielding products that command the com- 
merce of the world, could in the same number of years that 
they have been here, be in at this time. And we would 
make all due allowances for their inexperience, to be rap' 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 59 

idly "a people and a nation," still we would say, that 
fencing, oxen and the plough, are the crying wants of the 
soil of Liberia. There are in upper and lower Caldwell, 
each, Methodist and Baptist churches, and day schools, and 
Sabbath schools. There are cannon placed at suitable 
points for the prote:5tion of the town. It is a good thing to 
be prepared for an attack by our enemies, but I saw no prob- 
ability that an attack would be made by the natives 
who lived more or less in numbers a few miles from Cald- 
well. The township can bring into field ninety men. The 
census of 1844 gives the names of one thousand three hun- 
dred and twenty-three persons who had settled in Caldwell. 
Six hundred and thirty of this number were free blacks. I 
find, on examination of that census, that of this number, (one 
thousand three hundred and twenty- three,) two hundred and 
sixty-six had died by the fever; four hundred and twenty- 
two had died by diff'erent diseases; seventy-one moved out of 
the colony; two hundred and fifty-three moved to other set- 
tlements, because of land difficulties, leaving a population 
in 1844, of three hundred and eleven souls. In 1854 the 
population of Caldwell was three hundred and six Ameri- 
cans. I returned to the ship, and was on board at half past 
8, P. M. I learned that the thermometer at 7, P. M., was 
82° in the cabin. 

There had been sent from the ship to-day, nine adult em- 
igrants to Monrovia to acclimate there; and thirty-one emi- 
grants, over twelve years of age, and fifteen under twelve 
years old, to Careysburg, to acclimate there. Careysburg 
is about twenty-five miles from Monrovia back in the coun- 
try. The present way to go there from Monrovia is by 
Stockton creek to the St. Paul's river, thence up the river 
five miles, to White Plains on the south bank of the river, 
and thence by land twelve to fifteen miles in a north-east di- 
rection to Careysburg. The emigrants went in row-boats to 
White Plains, and walked from there to Careysburg. There 
is, five miles from White Plains on toward Careysburg, a 
Methodist Missionary station for the natives living there. 
The property of the emigrants is taken by the natives hired 
for that purpose, from White Plains to Careysburg. Some 
things are carried on their heads, and other things are swung 
on a pole, the ends of which rest on their heads or should- 
ers, as the preference may be. The provisions for the six 
months are taken in the same way. The barrels of pork, 
beef, and fish are emptied into vessels that can be carried 
after this native fashion. Would that this people would be- 
lieve that there is much "increase by the strength of the ox." 



60 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

It was judged best by the American Colonization Society 
to try an experiment to test the acclimation of emigrants 
back in the interior on high ground. The society paid the 
Liberian Government the expenses of one hundred Liberian 
volunteers, under suitable officers, to act as a garrison for 
protection of the new settlement for a given time. The Rev. 
John Se^^s, Agent of the Maryland State Colonization Soci- 
et}' was sent as Agent of the American Colonization Society 
to select the place, and superintend the erection of a suita- 
ble Receptacle and houses for the different persons necessary 
to be employed in and about such an establishment. In 
1856 Mr. Seys went out to Liberia and selected a spot, which 
is called Careysburg, after a Liberian named Carey, who 
emigrated from Virginia in 1821, and who distinguished him- 
self in fidelity and usefulness to Liberia in one of her early 
days of need. A town has been laid out on a very high hill. 
Each settler has an half acre lot, and thirty acres of farm 
land. The Receptacle is built of logs, and is made every 
way suitable for the object of its erection. The country is 
high rolling land. The water is said to be good. A doctor 
is located there, also an agent, steward, and nurses. In the 
spring of 1857, twenty-two emigrants were sent there, im- 
mediately on their arrival in the Roadstead off of Monrovia. 
Shortly after these persons had gone to Careysburg, eight 
persons who had left Monrovia, and had stopped at Clay 
Ashland to finish their acclimation, went also to Caseysburg 
to finish their six months acclimation. Of those who went 
in the first company to Careysburg, direct from the ship, 
there was but one death during the six months. After the 
six months expired there were two deaths of those who had 
stopped at Monrovia and Clay Ashland. Of the number 
who went this day from the ship to Careysburg, were six 
adults from Christian county, Kentucky, and one from Shelby 
count}' — the balance were from Maryland. (I would here 
state that two out of the six from Christian county returned 
to Monrovia, and took passage in the ship for the United 
States. They paid their own passage to and back from Li- 
beria. Their reason for leaving was, they came to Liberia 
to be free, and then to return back to the United States to 
live. They spent three nights in Monrovia on their return 
from Careysburg, waiting for the ship. When at sea, one of 
them was attacked with the African fever. He was attend- 
ed 10 immediately^ and had but a slight attack. For the 
nine emigrants left at Monrovia, and the forty-three of all 
ages, sent to Careysburg to acclimate, the following provis- 
ions were landed and placed in the hands of the Agent of 
the American Colonization Society in Monrovia, to be fur- 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 61 

nished them as needed for six months, viz: one sack of salt, 
fourteen barrels of mackerel, three boxes of soap, two bar- 
rels of rice, one bag of rice, twenty-one barrels of beef, sev- 
enteen barrels of pork, two tierces of bacon, four kegs of 
butter, fifty barrels of flour, five barrels of sugar, two bar- 
rels of syrup, one half chest of tea, three bags of coflee; one 
barrel of vinegar, two boxes of mustard, one box of pepper, 
and twelve barrels of kiln dried meal, tw^o cases of United 
States muskets, and three boxes, and three bales of dry goods, 
were sent to be sold to meet incidental expenses. The ther- 
mometer at 7, P. M. in the cabin, was 81°. 

December 29. The thermometer at 7, A. M. in the cabin, 
was 80°. I took a boat and went up the Stockton creek to 
the St. Paul's river, crossed it, and landed at the 

VIRGINIA SETTLEMENT. 

It lies on the north side of the St. Paul's river. It was 
commenced in 1846. The township was laid out three miles 
on the banks of the river, and extends back nominally eight 
miles. The law of Liberia in regard to townships is, "each 
county shall be divided into townships of not more than 
eight miles square, until otherwise more accurately defined 
by law. Provided, that when there is not the space of eight 
miles between any two settlements — then half the distance 
whatever it may be, shall limit each township." Three av- 
enues have been laid out. The first is on the bank of the 
river. The first tier of lots run back a half mile, divided 
off into ten acre lots to be subdivided into three and five 
acres, to suit those entitled to such quantities of land as well 
as those entitled to draw ten acres. The land on the second 
and third avenues are narrower and deeper to suit single and 
married emigrants. There have been drawn up to this time, 
sixty-six lots of ten acres each; three lots of nine acres each; 
eleven lots of seven acres each; twenty-four lots of ^ve 
acres each; one lot of three acres; making in all, eight hun- 
dred and eighty-se\ en acres. Six-eighths of the settlers are 
from the slave states. The soil is a clay, mixed with sand. 
Some of the land is incUned to sand. On the banks of the 
river it is more level than it is back from the river, and good 
clay can be found on the banks lor brick. Many ot the 
farms have more acres improved than other larms have. 
And some raise more on the same number of acres than 
others do. So of the dwellings, some are well framed, and 
others are built of poles or bamboo, covered with thatch. 
Their houses were generally well lurnished w^ith the neces- 
sary articles to keep house. The furniture was plain, but 
good. The cupboard showed plates, cups and saucers, dishes, 



62 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

knives and forks, spoons, &c. to set a decent table. And the 
houses throughout were kept cleaner and neater than such 
occupants keep their houses in the United States. I came 
to the conclusion from my examination of their houses that 
they either had some means when they arrived in Liberia to 
get many things that added much to the comfort of house- 
keeping, or they had by their labor raised more than was ne- 
cessary for their support, and by the sale of the productions, 
bought them. The industrious could find plenty of work to 
do on their lands. I was sorry to see that some continued to 
work land that was much exhausted by tillage, year after 
year, without manure, when by new clearings they could 
have new and richer land to work. In one part of the set- 
tlement I found a host of acquaintances. I had a most 
hearty shake of the hand of many a man, woman and child. 
Here I found some of the Grahams, the Eubanks, the Craw- 
fords, the Daniels, the Bells, the Stevensons, the Weirs, the 
Herringtons, the Graves, the Garnets, the Rogers, and others 
who had come to this land under my agency from Kentucky. 
They were unquestionably glad to see me, and I needed sev- 
eral personifications to answer all their claims upon me to go 
to their houses and see their farms. It was very gratifying 
to me to have the answer from them all, that I had not de- 
ceived them in my statements to them what they would find 
in Liberia, and what they would have to do to get a good 
home here. To the many cordial invitations to dinner, I had 
to give a refusal, for it was not becoming in me to eat but 
one dinner in a day. But when I went to dine at one house, 
I had the whole troop to follow, and look on me with their 
friendly comments to each other — "he has not altered at all" — 
"he looks just as he did when I bid him good-bj^e in Balti- 
more" — "I should know him if I should have met him any 
where" — "he said he would come to Liberia if he lived." 
Kind reader these are simple expressions, but they touched 
a cord within my bosom, that the penning of them now, takes 
me to their habitations in Liberia, with feelings of friend- 
ship and interest for their future welfare. My dinner was 
chicken, fresh fish, (how plentiful they are in St. Paul's river) 
cassada, sweet potatoes, and coffee, with syrup from the 
cane. The cane grew on his land, but the coffee was bor- 
rowed of a neighbor, for mine host had not been long 
enough in Liberia to have cofl^ee trees bearing coffee. The 
other things on the table, except the fish, he had raised on 
his own land. The cane was ground at a mill a mile off". 
He had a comfortable house for a new settler, with a shan- 
tee in the yard for a kitchen. Many of the Kentuckians had 
made a good selection of land. Some had drawn land on 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 63 

the bank of the river, and others had gone back and drawn 
lots on the third avenue. The land was heavy timbered, 
and they and their neighbors from other states showed some 
hard work had been done toward getting ready to live. I 
found some persons had drawn land, but had not cut a tree 
on it, and a few had not even drawn land. I found two Ken- 
tuckians in this lazy condition. They had had money, and 
had lived on it as some white persons do on their money, 
thinking and acting as if it would never be less in quantity 
and value, until it was all gone, and they lost shame, and 
cast themselves upon their friends to give them bread. I 
found the Kentuckians living here, with the exceptions I 
have stated, in a contented good condition as new settlers in 
a new country. I could draw the contrast in these acquain- 
tances. There certainly was a change in them for the bet- 
ter. The change was in their manliness, their deportment 
toward each other, the respect of the man for the woman, 
and the apparent consciousness of acting for themselves. I 
do not wish to imply that I had not seen these characteristics 
in the Liberians before in the same prominent manner; nor 
do 1 wish to make the impression they were fully developed 
here in all their refinement and effects; but I mean to say, 
that by seeing more in one settlement together in a circle, 
and in their different dwellings, whom I had known before 
they landed in Liberia, I was most sensibly struck with these 
appearances in them. As they had confidence in me, what 
a good time it was for them to cry out, O that you would 
take me back to old Kentucky! When I took out my note 
book to put down the names of those who had died of their 
respective families, and the like information,! thought it was 
a good opportunity to test their contentedness in living in 
Liberia. I therefore, without any remarks as a prelude, 
spoke out — will any of you return with me in the ship, if I 
will agree to see you back on the old farms you came from? 
I did this in good faith, and at a great risk of my pocket, for 
my proposition was to pay the expense of their return. One 
of the number said, "I will go back with you." My ques- 
tion opened up a running talk among them. Some said one 
thing, and some said another thing — all was about this 
friend; that relative; this acquaintance, and that old neigh- 
borhood; but all settled down in the common feeling, we are 
"in our homes." It was a woman who said she would go 
back. In a more private situation, I asked her why she was 
willing to go back? She replied, my husband treats me bad, 
and leaves me for days. We have a home and land, but he 
is not kind to me." Poor soul, she opened up her mind to 
me, as if I was the friend who could relieve her from her do- 



64 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

mestic troubles. All I could do for her was to advise her to 
let the gentleness of the woman be used failhfully to win him 
back to her, for when they left Kentucky for Liberia, I had 
noticed they were very fond one of another in many little 
ways that expressed affection. If that course could not ef- 
fect a change for the best, then I suggested to her the relief 
pointed out by the town clerk of Ephesus, "the law is open, 
and there are deputies, let them implead one another " The 
law of Liberia in regard to divorce is, "any person or per- 
sons wishing a bill or writing of divorcement tor the dissolu- 
tion of a marriage contract, shall in all cases, apply to the 
Clerk of the Court of Quarter Sessions of the county where 
they reside, either by themselves, or attorney, and shall file a 
complaint." The case being laid before the court, the Judge 
submits the whole testimony taken, to a jury, and if the ac- 
tion and complaint is sustained, the Judge grants a bill of 
divorcement. But in no case can a divorce be granted, ex- 
cept for the cause of infidelity oradulter}', either in the hus- 
band or wife. The clerk is required to keep a minute and 
correct record of the evidence. He also is required to ren- 
der a categorical account of costs incurred in the trial of the 
case, with an additional sum of twenty-Jive dollars tax fee to be 
paid into the Treasury for county purposes. 

It was not to be wondered at that these persons should feel 
satisfied with their new homes. They had had means fur- 
nished them to build their houses, and in clearing their 
lands, with some exceptions. And those who had not as 
much money for these purposes as some others, had been in- 
duced by their necessities to act for themselves. Monrovia, 
and the shipping touching at Monrovia, furnish a market for 
many articles raised in the settlements on this river. Cer- 
tainly these people were influenced by the circumstances 
that no white persons were living among them as their su- 
periors, and that they were all of one color, one blood, and 
civilians in a land of their own by purchase and govern- 
ment. All these associations were in embryo. It is now 
renting upon them, under God's blessing, to develope their 
tendencies to raise them higher in the scale of human man- 
hood. Certain it is, I did not regret that they had chosen 
to make this land their home. But we must not forget those 
lazy men who had not drawn land, or who had drawn land, 
but had not cut down a tree on the land. Necessity may 
force them by and by to work; but laziness and indifference to 
their social and political privileges now prevail, and the tat- 
tered remains of clothing they left the United Srates with, 
show the consequences of their idleness. How valuable is 
the counsel of Solomon to emigrants to Liberia: "He becom- 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 65 

eth poor that dealeth with a slack hand — but the hand of the 
diligent maketh rich." I had occasion to relieve a wife 
from the effects of the laziness of her husband. He had 
drawn a good piece of land in this settlement, but made no 
improvement of it. I bought his interest in it, and made 
such improvements on the land that he could get a deed for 
it. He deeded it to a citizen of Liberia when he had his 
deed for it — that citizen deeded it to the man's, wife. Upon 
the land, a house was then built, for $35, with tvA'o rooms. 
This was done by the consent of the woman with her money 
in my hands to pay over to her. Both of the parties were 
from Kentucky. Thus a home was secured to the woman, 
for the constitution of Liberia declares, "that the property 
of which a woman may be possessed at the time of her mar- 
riage, and also that of which she may afterwards become 
possessed, otherwise than by her husband, shall not be held 
responsible for his debts whether contracted before or after 
marriage. Nor shall the property thus intended to be se- 
cured to the woman be alienated otherwise than by her free 
and voluntary consent; and such alienation may be made by 
her, either by sale, or devise, or otherwise." 

1 noticed in this settlement what I had observed in New 
Georgia and Caldwell: the line of timber defining the route 
of the little stream of water. Some of the settlers had land 
running to, and in some cases, embracing the stream in its 
length through the breadth of their lands. The quality of the 
wet land on each side of the water was excellent. The fam- 
ilies whose land embraced these streams, used the water to 
drink, and for all domestic purposes. It was soft and good. 
Those living on higher land depended on wells. The land 
commenced a rolling form a half mile from the river. And 
I was told by several persons who had been back eight miles 
to trade at a native town, they found the surface of the land 
inclined to be hilly, and in knobs like. I noticed rock here. 
In some places it was a white flint, but most generally a 
hard granite. In such neighborhoods the ground was in- 
clined to be gravelly. There is a brick Receptacle that was 
built by the Government of the United States on the banks 
of the St. Paul's river for the accommodation of recaptured 
Africans taken from American slavers by our naval vessels 
cruising on this "coast" for that purpose. The building has 
ground attached to it for the use of the persons while occu- 
pying it for six months. In the absence of occupants a set- 
tler has put some of the ground into cultivation for his own 
benefit. I had to go over very luxuriant sweet potatoe vines 
to examine the building in its internal arrangements for ten- 
ants. The building is going to decay like a good deal of 
5 



66 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

"uncle Sam's property" nearer home. There is a swamp in 
the rear of the building which can, I think, be drained by 
letting the water into the river. The building was put up 
in 1847, and has been used by the American Colonization 
Society in several instances, for the acclimation of emigrants. 
And one time a great mortality occurred among them by rea- 
son of a great abuse of the confidence the society placed in a 
physician to attend to them while sick. The building is now 
not fit, without repairs, to put emigants in to acclimate. The 
laws of Liberia require that recaptured Africans landed in 
Liberia under the operation and authority of the laws and 
treaties of the Republic, may be apprenticed to citizens of the 
Republic under the following regulations: males under the 
the age of fourteen years shall be bound until they attain 
the age of twenty-one years — over fourteen years, tor a term 
of seven years, females under the age of eleven years shall 
be bound until they attain the age of eighteen years — those 
over eleven years, shall be bound for seven years. The per- 
sons to whom such persons are bound, shall give annually, 
to every male thus beund, three shirts, three pair of trousers, 
one jacket, ^and one hat or cap. Girls and women shall be 
suitably and decently clothed. All such apprentices shall 
be kindly and humanely treated; and proper diligence is re- 
• quired of those to whom they are bound, to instill into them 
the principles and habits of civilized life. I did not see 
:any cattle, but was told that a few head were owned by some 
of the settlers. There were hogs, and sheep, and goats 
enough to prove they could be raised here to any demand, 
but no one had inclosed his farm lands. The hoe was the 
chief instrument of work, and the bill hook the next reli- 
ance. It seemed to me that time was not long enough to do 
atll the work that was needed by such- tools, to make farmers 
on a large scale. How fortunate for their system of farm- 
ing, that "the heavens hear the earth, and earth hears the 
corn" — the cassada, and the various edible productions of 
this land. Many have put out cofl^ee trees in reference to 
■raising coff'ee to sell. There are Methodist and Baptist 
churches here, and day and Sabbath schools. The schools 
average thirty to forty scholars. The teachers have a sal- 
ary for teaching day schools, from $150 to $200. They are 
paid by the Missionary Society that has established the 
school. It appeared singular to me to hear boys and girls 
from Kentucky talking to me about going to school, and 
what they were learning at school. God grant in his kind 
providence to them that they may learn and use their knowl- 
edge to their own benefit, and that of others. There are 
four whipsaws constantly employed, and the lumber com- 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 67 

mands a ready sale at the prices given at other places. 
They can muster ninety men, and have sufficient cannon, 
ball, and powder for self defence. The Liberians trade 
with the natives by buying mats, &c., and pay them in cloth, 
&c., at a great advance on the price they bought the goods 
for. The population of this settlement in 1854 was three 
hundred aud eighty-four, but from additions made by emigra- 
tions since then, I presunie it may be set down at five hun- 
dred at this time. There is not a white person living in the 
township. The thermometer at 1, P. M., in the shade, was 
86°. As night drew on, I took the boat with many a hearty 
good-by, and reached the ship at 8 P. M. The thermometer 
in the cabin, I was told, was, at 7 P. M. 81°. 

December 30. The thermometer at 7 A. M., was 82°. I 
left the ship at 7 A. M., in a boat by Stockton creek to the 
St. Paul's river to go to 

THE KENTUCKY SETTLEMENT. 

It is on the north bank of the St. Paul's river, estimated to 
be fifteen miles from Monrovia. At 10 A. M., on the river 
near to the settlement, the thermometer was 92°. On shore 
at 11 A. M., it was 86° in the sun. The township is called 
Kentuck}' — and the town, Clay Ashland, blending Mr. Clay's 
name with the name of his farm in Fayette county, Ken- 
tucky. In 1847, a tract of land was laid off as the purchase 
of the Kentucky State Colonization Society, extending along 
the river from the settlement of Millsburg, twenty miles to 
the sea; thence running along the sea beach in a north-wes- 
terly direction, about thirty miles, and thence into the interior 
about fifty miles. This is a very peculiar shaped tract of 
land. But the boundary is official, having been published in 
the thirteenth Annual Report of the American Colonization 
Society. The Kentucky Colonization Society paid $5,000 
for it to the American Colonization Society. 1 found this 
tract of land to be a nominal purchase for the Kentucky So- 
ciety. There is no evidence that the purchase was made for 
the Kentucky Society. Yesterday 1 was in the Virginia set- 
tlement which was commenced a year before the above 
boundary was given of the purchase of territory by the Ken- 
tucky Society, and it is included in the above boundary as 
Kentucky's purchase — and not two years since, the part re-^ 
fei'red to as lying on the sea coast, was sold to the Ohio Col- 
onization Society as her purchase for the free blacks in that 
State, to settle on in Liberia. I found the inhabitants in this 
settlement w^ere from various states. This is desirable. For 
no Kentucky emigrant is compelled to settle here, as is seen 
by the number stated to have been found yesterday in Vir- 



68 LtsERiA, A3 I fou:;d it. 

ginia. All emigrants from the United States settle in Libe- 
ria where they please — having means to get to the place. 
It is therefore right that whoever pleases should settle in this 
township. But the Government of Liberia has not, in my 
judgment, pursued a proper action toward the good of this 
place. Her policy here is not, I think, a mark of wisdom. 
The laws of Liberia allow a married man to draw a town 
lot, and five acres of farm land, or to draw ten acres of farm 
land, if the size of his family is as the law requires it to be 
to have that number of acres. And when the American Col- 
onization Society consented to the independence of Liberia, 
she made this agreement with the Liberian Commissioners: 
*'The Government shall allow to emigrants the quantity of 
land heretofore allowed them by existing regulations out of 
any unoccupied or unsold lands; and when the Government 
sells any of the public lands, every alternate lot, or farm, or 
section, or square mile or miles, shall be left unsold, to be 
assigned to emigrants." Furthermore, "the Government shall 
hold the land heretofore appropriated to the Kentucky So- 
ciety for the occupancy of emigrants from said state, on the 
same terms and provisions as the other public lands." The 
Government has not a body of land surveyed or laid off, or 
designated for emigrants to draw land to live on. When an 
emigrant stops for example at Monrovia to acclimate, he is 
to go five miies to Georgia, ten miles to Caldwell, or Vir- 
ginia, or fifteen miles to Kentucky, and so on, to get to other 
settlements to select land. He returns to Monrovia to inform 
the Agent of the American Colonization Society of his 
choice. The Agent informs the county surveyor of the wish 
of the emigrant to draw land. It is vice versa if the emi- 
grant lives in another place than Monrovia, he has to go to 
Monrovia to tell the Agent his wish to have his land. This 
plan is accompanied with delay in the emigrant getting his 
land, for the surveyor does not feel anxious to go out to 
survey except a number of farm lots are wanted at the same 
time. And when the land is surveyed the emigrant has not 
his choice but from necessity. The land is surveyed adjoin' 
ing land drawn by a previous settler. There are no alternate 
farm lands in this settlement. The American Colonization 
Society pays for the survey of farm lands drawn by every 
emigrant she sends to Liberia. The person who has the 
land surveyed for him, or her, gets a certificate that states he 
has drawn the land, and if he clears two acres of it, and 
bring it into cultivation, he shall have a deed for it in fee 
simple. If he dies before he makes the improvement on the 
land, his heirs have the right to fulfill the agreement. But if 
a single man dies, and had not made the clearance required 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 69 

for a deed of it, the Government claims the land, and what- 
ever improvements are made on it, and does not refund to 
the society the cost of the survey of it. The operation of 
this land arrangement in Kentucky has been this: Some five 
years ago some fifteen ten acre farms w^ere laid out on the 
banks of the St. Paul's river, running back a half mile. Ad- 
joining the last ten acre farm lot the town of Clay Ashland 
was laid out. An avenue of one hundred feet wide was laid 
out running some distance back in the country (on paper.) 
The Government has sold to different persons who have 
bought on speculation (for it is not in cultivation) over one 
thousand acres of land that run in the rear adjoining the 
lines of the ten acre farms and the corporate limits of Clay 
Ashland. The lots laid out on paper of ten acres on each 
side of the avenue with three or four exceptions, for four 
miles on the avenue, are taken into the tract purchased — 
that is, the breadth of the tract comes up to the avenue with- 
out reference to the ten acre plot, and then starts from the 
other side of the avenue, and passes on to make out the quan- 
tity of land bought. Thus the land on the avenue is in the 
hands of speculators. The inhabitants of Clay Ashland, en- 
titled to draw five acres of farm land, have had to go a half 
mile to draw their land. And they had to draw their five 
acres side by side to one another. The laws of Liberia re- 
quire a man when he wants to purchase land to go the 
county land Commissioner, and state to him what parcel of 
land he wants to buy. The Commissioner has the land sur- 
veyed at the expense of the Government, so as to be able to 
give the precise boundaries of the land in a public notice 
that he will sell it to the highest bidder on the first day of 
the term of the Court of Sessions at a given hour before the 
court house door. The sale must not be while the court is 
sitting in the court house. The minimum price of the land 
lying on the river, is $1 per acre. The land lying back from 
the river, is fifty cents per acre. It is only in one direction 
from Clay Ashland, that emigrants can draw land short of 
two miles and a half. And the possibility of buying: adjoin- 
ing land, all the settlers, without reference to the difference 
in them in industry and management, stand on the same 
platform as to enlargement. The only remedy is to buy of 
the speculator who holds the land adjoining. But this is not 
the worst feature of the land arrangement. Those who have 
land warrants, lay them where they please on unsold lands. 
Much land has been taken up in this way. The Government 
gives bounty land warrants to those who serve during a war 
that it is engaged in with the natives. I do not think the 
American Colonization Society has been privy to this course 



TO LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

of action on the part of the Liberian Government. Certain 
I am, the Kentucky Society has not been consulted in regard 
to it. I expressed my disapprobation of this policy of the 
Liberian Government, as Agent of the Kentucky Coloniza- 
tion Society. It is true, the Government proposed to me, as 
Agent of the Kentucky Society, to select what quantity of 
land I wished for emigrants to be sent to Liberia from Ken- 
tucky, and where I pleased, and it should be kept exclusively 
for them; but this is no vindication of the correctness of her 
policy in the sale of lands in such localities of settlements in 
this early stage of colonization. And it is at war with their 
policy in scattering the people lest the natives should attack 
them. It is proper for me to state here, that I had taken out 
in the ship two Receptacles, each one containing four rooms; 
(giving a room to a family during the six months of acclima- 
tion,) by order of the Kentucky Society. The buildings 
were to be put up where I should, on examination of the dif- 
ferent settlements in Liberia, think it best. They were to 
remain on board of the ship until I had decided upon their 
removal to the shore. I was to select land for healthiness; 
and the place that showed it had facilities for the future 
growth of the settlement. 

I landed at a farm on which was erected a good brick 
house, but with not much taste displayed on the grounds 
around it. This was the farm of the Rev. A. F. Russell, an 
Episcopal Minister. He was sent to Liberia in 1833, by 
Mrs. IVI. O. Wickliffe, deceased, of Fayette county, Ken- 
tucky. He owned in one body, sixty acres of good land. 
Among the productions he raised, was sugar cane and cof- 
fee. His coffee trees showed that the work of the plow in their 
midst would greatly add to their productiveness, and enable 
him to keep the grass down that gave them a yellowish cast. 
He had in use the sugar mill that Gov. Ashman used to grind 
the cane he raised on one of the dry spots on Bushrod Island. 
The mill was like unto an old fashioned cider mill. It was 
worked by ten men, with the occasional power of a bullock. 
Mr. Russell had made fifty gallons of syrup in a day, weigh- 
ing twelve pounds to the gallon. Eight gallons of juice 
would make a gallon of syrup. It cannot be told how much 
yield in sugar can be made from an acre of land in Liberia, 
without breaking up the ground with the plow, and attend- 
ing it well. It is very plain from the size and yield of cane, 
and the saccharine matter of the cane juice, that the yield 
will be great. In Jamaica, it is computed, that on an aver- 
age, one-half hogshead of sugar is raised per acre; in Gren- 
ada, three-fourths of a hogshead; Antigua, one- third of a 
hogshead; St. Kitts, one hogshead; St. Vincent, one hogs- 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 71 

head and one-fourth, and St. Domingo one hogshead and a 
half. The hogshead containing one thousand four hundred 
and fifty-six pounds. [Enci/c.'] This yield to the acre is by 
the averaged labor of one man. The cane in Liberia is 
chiefly planted in hills about five feet apart. This method 
is considered better than to plant it in drills. Three to four 
pieces of cane are put in a hill. These, the first year, will 
put forth five to six stocks. When ripe they are cut close to 
the ground. The second year there is from the roots of the 
cane a growth of eight to ten stocks. These are likewise 
cut close to the ground. In the third year the roots are in 
their prime for yielding the greatest quantity of stocks and 
juice. Twelve stocks are suffered to grow this year. After 
the fourth crop is taken off another planting is made. Ex- 
perience has decided that in the first of the rains it is best to 
plant the cane, that is in May, that the shoots may come out 
the sooner, and may be less attacked by the bug-a bug ant, 
which they do very much when the cane is planted in the 
dry season. But others prefer to plant the cane in June. 
But as there are no frosts in Liberia, there is no fear of the 
frost cutting off* the cane before maturing. One of the great 
disadvantages of raising sugar, is the great outlay necessary 
for laborers, machinery, and stock; and when once com- 
menced, there is no alternative than to carry it on at great 
hazards of profit and loss. 

Mr. Russell has a neighbor, Mr. Blackledge, from South 
Carolina, who owns land on both sides of the St. Paul's 
river. His farm on the Kentucky side is a valuable farm, 
and is very pleasantly situated on a good rise of land from 
the river's bank. There are scattered palm trees on his clear- 
ed land, together with his cofl^ee trees, that give a very pleas- 
ing view of his brick house. He raises more sugar cane, and 
has more coffee trees, than Mr. Russell. He sells sugar ev- 
ery year from his farm. It is singular to see two persons of 
good sense, and prominent men in the Republic, for both of 
them have been Senators from this county in the Legislature, 
carrying on farms without fences, or horse, or yoke of cattle 
to the plow. All their work of tillage is done with the hoe, 
and its adjunct, the bill hook. I would commend to the Rev. 
Mr. Russell the example of Elijah the prophet, who ploughed 
with twelve yoke of oxen, though I think that two yoke of 
oxen will plow his land deep enough for good tillage. The 
coffee tree would do much better on both farms with such 
tillage. Coffee trees grow well on this clay soil. They were 
in bloom, and yet the coffee from last year's bloom was ri- 
pening to pick next month. The blossom comes out for the 
next crop either above or below, as the case may be, where 



72 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

the coffee berries are ripening from last j'^ear's blossoming. 
The trees are planted from May to October. Three hundred 
and twenty trees can be profitably put on an acre of ground, 
which is fifteen feet apart. The tree bears in three years, 
and continues to bear in greater quantity to its seventh year, 
when it is in its prime. If the trees were trimmed, and not 
suffered to grow so high, (some of them grow to the height 
of thirty feet,) no question they would yield better; and cer- 
tainly the coffee could be gathered cheaper in time and labor. 
There are two kinds raised in Liberia; but I think the dif- 
ference is mostly in the size of the coffee, and the color of 
the shell. It blooms every new moon in January, February, 
and March, and blossoms slightly in April, May, and June. 
The chief of the blossoms put forth in January and Febru- 
ary, and in these months the heaviest gatherings of coffee 
are made. Owing to the trees blossoming other months than 
January, February, and March, there will be coffee on the 
trees almost every month in the year. Eight to ten pounds 
can be taken from a tree five years old that is well attended 
to. Some say they have taken twelve pounds from a tree. 
The coffee is of the very best kind. Coffee can be raised in 
Liberia at eight cents per pound, at great profit. What is 
wanted in Liberia in regard to raising coffee is better tillage 
of the ground, more faithful picking of the coffee, a machine 
that will separate the shell from the coffee, and merchants 
who will buy all that is brought in for sale. At present there 
is no inducement held out to the farmer to gather what his 
trees do yield. The merchants give fourteen to eighteen 
cents a pound for what little they buy. They do not buy to 
send to our market, because of the price that Rio and West 
India coffee will command in our markets. In other countries 
they put out five hundred and thirty to six hundred trees to 
an acre, but the yield is not as great to the tree as in Liberia. 
In Java the yield to a tree is estimated at two and a half 
pounds; in Venezula, two pounds; in Jamaica, one and a 
half pounds; St. Domingo, one pound, and Rio Janeiro, two 
pounds. The Java coffee (the coffee to which that of Libe- 
ria is compared in size and quality) can be raised for five 
cents per pound. \_Encyc.'] 

In my progress on foot, I came to the farm lots near to 
College Hill, a part of Clay Ashland. Mr. Blackledge and 
Mr. Russelfs farms were parts of the tracts of land sold by 
the Liberian Government, that run in the rear of the town. On 
these ten acre farms I found one of the Graham family from 
Logan county, Kentucky. He was comfortably settled. He 
raised, as his neighbors did, the usual productions of this 
country. He was a plain man, and had bettered his condi- 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 73 

tion by coming to Liberia, while Liberia had found in him a 
good citizen. He and his neighbors live on their farm lands 
on the banks of the river, in brick, framed, and log houses, 
with door yards and gardens inclosed, presenting their so- 
cial and living condition, favorably to my mind. My Ken- 
tucky friend had anticipated my arrival to-day, for some 
Cushi had gone before me to tell that I had actually arrived 
in Liberia. You must know, reader, that my Kentucky ac- 
quaintances had a yoke of bullocks. One of them was a 
round neatly made jet black animal. His hair was short 
and glossy. His eye had a roguish look. His master had 
made a vehicle, in roughness, the very reverse of his bullock. 
The bullock he had broke to the harness, and instead of the 
natives pulling his carriage, he had his bull to do it. He 
took a premium on his animal at the fair in Monrovia on the 
14-21 Dec, 1857. He rode in his carriage at the fair, but 
received no premium for it. The committee in making out 
the list of premiums, I suppose, did not anticipate the pre- 
sentation of such an article. Upon my friend Graham's 
earnest invitation, audit being due to his Kentuckeo Liberio 
enterprise, I seated myself in the carriage, took the reins in 
my hand, and gave the word of command to Sir Black, and 
away we went to the great danger of gate posts and front 
yard fencing on the one hand, and a narrow strip of land 
between the off wheel, and a fine fall from the bank to the 
cooling waters of the St. Paul. The fact was not in my 
horsemanship^ but Sir Black did not understand my holding of 
the reins. It is due to myself to say, I was very uncertain 
about my position, and therefore was anxious to be on the 
ground, standing upright on my feet. 

The College Hill is about one hundred and fifty feet high — 
gradually rising from the banks of the river. It was a half 
of the plot of the corporated limits of Clay Ashland,, not 
surveyed off in lots. Money having been raised in the Uni- 
ted States, to endow a College in Liberia, one hundred acres 
in this town was given, by petition of the inhabitants to the 
Legislature, for college purposes. When the time drew near 
to commence the erection of the buildings, the majority of 
the Trustees of the College living in Monrovia, decided by 
the casting vote of the President of the College, ex officio^ 
(Ex-President Roberts,) to locate the College in Monrovia. 
Application was made by the Trustees to the Legislature, in 
1857-8, to confirm the act of President Benson in giving twen- 
ty acres of land within the corporate limits of the township of 
Monrovia to the College, and to confirm the act of the Trus- 
tees of the College in removing the location of the College 
from Clay Ashland to Monrovia. The Legislature refused 



74 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

to ratify either of the acts. The ground of removal was: 
the rear of the one hundred acres in Clay Ashland, run into 
a swamp that has an outlet by a creek to the St. Paul's river. 
The singularity and force of the reason lies in this: a Col- 
lege should not have a swamp in the rear of its lands in Ken- 
tucky, but be surrounded on two sides with mangrove 
swamps at Monrovia. And it is still more singular to make 
a remove of a College to Monrovia, when the teachers of 
the High School, under the care of the Presbyterian Board 
of Foreign Missions, located in New York City, have deci- 
ded in theu' minds it is best to have the High School removed 
from Monrovia to some place up the St. Paul's river. 

Passing the Hill, I entered Clay Ashland. And here I was 
indeed welcomed. I had around me the Hendersons, the 
Wardlaws, the Freemans, the Gasses, the Hitheringtons, 
the McMurtrys, the Fields, and many more from Kentucky. 
I found on inquiry, that some Kentucky families had suffered 
more by acclamation than other families from Kentucky had 
suffered. This was not owing to having come from North- 
ern Kentucky, and the Green river portion of the State. In 
families of twenty-two emigrants, one family would lose one 
adult and tw^o children, while another family of the same 
number would lose six adults and several children; then 
again in families of seven to eight, not one death, and in 
others, only two would survive. The difference would be 
partly owing to age, to intemperate habits established before 
emigrating, and an unwillingness to submit to the restraints 
of physicians and nurses in diet and exposure of self and 
children while acclimating. Clay Ashland has one hundred 
and thirty-one town lots of one-fourth of an acre, laid off; 
one hundred and eight of them have been drawn, and are 
improved more or less. There are three brick churches, and 
a fourth (brick) is being put up. Each church — Presbyte- 
rian, Methodist, Baptist, and Episcopal — have service each 
Sabbath; and day and Sabbath schools. The Episcopal 
church had a native school, children who came from the in- 
terior, but it has been suspended for the present. I dined 
with Mr. Solomon Winkles, whose father, with his family, 
had been sent to Liberia by Mr. S. Cassaday of Louisxille, 
Kentucky, in 1840. I dined on chicken, fresh fish, sweet po- 
tatoes, and cassada, with a cup of coffee with syrup from 
the cane they raised on his land. How much I had to talk 
with the people about Kentucky. I started for a two mile 
walk into the country. On descending the hill on which 
most of Clay Ashland stands, 1 came to a swamp with its 
stream. The swamp was fifty yards wide, with the stream 
twenty yards wide flowing through it. There was a foot 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 75 

bridge across the whole. If the land was cleared, it would 
be excellent land for corn, eddoes, cassada, cane and rice. 
It would be dry land in the dry season. It is on land that 
the Government has sold. The stream runs into that of an- 
other swamp which is three hundred feet wide, and its wa- 
ters find a connection with a stream that empties into the 
St. Paul's river. When I came on to the farm lands, having 
passed through timbered land, I could the better see the 
quality of the land, being cleared in a good degree. It was 
rolling, and of good quality, with small living streams to the 
advantage of the land as a farming country for cattle, as 
well as for man. The soil was inclined to a reddish clay, 
with a black sandy loam in the swales. I had no lences to 
get over, nor no laid out roads to take. The avenues were 
things to be. The temperature of the air at 3 P. M., was 
92o, and that of the running streams, 76°. Two miles and a 
half from Ashland, I came to a very high hill. I judged it 
to be three hundred feet high. It had been cleared off, and 
was divided off into farm lots. The growth of timber had 
been heavy. It was evident that much work had been done 
here. And according to the means had by the settlers, were 
their improvements. I found contentment with their situa- 
tion according to the time and progress they had made in 
getting their lands planted with what they required for food. 
Their houses were altogether of logs; and the shingles were 
of oak, which was easily rived, as I saw in my route. The 
water is good and soft. I saw rock that could be easily got 
for building purposes. The farther I went into the woods I 
saw the hills varied in size and height, with a good growth 
of timber. I obtained twenty specimens of the timber of 
Liberia, viz: Red Whismore, Lignum Vitse, Walnut, Red 
Teak, or Red Bay, African Pine, Ninnephy or Garlac, Bas- 
tard Mahogany, Shingle oak. Yellow Dye Wood, Gum Wood, 
Cedar, Red Wood, Highland Mangrove, Hickory, Poplar, 
Cherry, Camwood, White Whismore, Black Oak, Rose 
Wood, and Pepper Wood Brimstone, Sassa Wood, Mulberry 
and Saffron, I did not obtain. I found in m}' rambles to-day, 
two yoke of bullocJ;5:s. They were used to take produce and 
wood from the farms to the town, giving to the owners good 
profits for cartage. There were goats, sheep and swine. 
Two cows are owned in Clay Ashland. Except the swamp 
near the town, I saw none in my walks. On my return to 
Clay Ashland, I stopped at the house of a Kentuckian, and 
had a glass of sweet milk. His cow gave two quarts at a 
milking. The milk was good, and I took a bottle of it for 
my coffee on board of the ship. I bid the people good bye 
and took the boat for the ship, and so rapidly did I go with 



76 LIBERIA^ AS I FOUND IT. 

the aid of an ebb tide, and the willingness of the Kroomen 
to ply well their oars, that I was by 9 P. M. safely in her 
cabin; and strange were ray thoughts when I looked up at 
the clock; my family were sound asleep at home, it being 
then with them after 2 o'clock A. M. The thermometer in 
the cabin at 7 P. M. was 82°. 

December 31. Thermometer in the cabin at 6 A. M. 8lo. 
Having taken an early breakfast, I started in a boat to make 
another visit to the 

KENTUCKY SETTLEMENT. 

I took the route by the mouth of the St. Paul's river. It is 
five miles from the mouth of the Mesurado river. Our way 
from the ship lay along the sea beach in a north-western di- 
rection, having Bushrod Island on our right hand. We kept 
off in the Atlantic far enough to be beyond the influence of 
the sea heaving on to the shore. The bar at the mouth of 
the St. Paul's river is not so bad as that at the mouth of the 
Mesurado river. I cast the lead where it was judged by 
the head Kroomen in the boat to be the shallowest part of 
the bar, and found two fathom of water. Inside of the bar 
there were two and a half fathoms of water. Three-fourths 
of a mile from its mouth, a creek called Gwin, came from the 
north, about forty yards wide, which no doubt is made up 
from rivulets flowing from low lands far back in the interior. 
The bank on the north side of the St. Paul's river is higher 
than that on the south side sf it. And it is so for twelve 
miles up the river, as a general feature of the land. There 
are three large rocks in the middle of the river which are 
covered at full flood — but at low water, present a diameter 
of twenty feet at the level of the water. When we came 
down the river at night, it was high tide at the mouth of the 
river, and our boat went over one of the rocks with a thump, 
thump, to our surprise and fear. The water of the St. Paul 
is brackish until you come opposite to where Stockton creek 
takes off" from it. Above that creek the water is used for do- 
mestic purposes by the families living on the banks of the 
river. The water of Stockton creek, at low water, is taken 
by shipping in their water casks for the ship's use. I was 
told in Cla}^ Ashland that in some years in the months of 
January and February, the Harmattan winds blow so hard 
that the water of the St. Paul is forced down in its natural 
current at low water, (it will be remembered that in these 
months the water is at its lowest stage, because the dry sea- 
son is near its close,) so that the flood tide makes the water 
brackish as high up as Clay Ashland, that it cannot be used 
for drink or cooking. The Harmattan winds have these pe- 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 7T 

culiar features. 1. They blow at the time the land breeze 
blows, and rarely blow much longer than the land breeze 
blows. 2. They blow with greater force, and are dry winds, 
effecting the growth of vegetation. 3. They are confined to 
the months of January and February. Some years they do 
not blow with the force and dryness that they do in other 
years. This was the case while I was in Liberia. The re- 
mark was frequently made, "why, this wind to-day, must be 
the Harmattan wind." Some call this wind the Simoon of 
Africa. After entering the St. Paul's river, on the south 
bank, made by Bushrod Island, there are two half towns of 
natives under the nominal control of an aged woman, a 
widow of a deceased native King, who formerly owned this 
territory. The woman is called Mamma, and was opposed 
to the sale of Cape Mesurado to the Liberians. Her glory 
has departed. And the whole Island is not worth a battle 
for all the products that can be raised on it. As I passed up 
the river, I was pleased at the presentation of the farms, 
and many of the dwellings. The most indifferent houses 
will one day be removed for those of a better style. I stop- 
ped at the general landing place in Clay Ashland. I found 
an old lady with her table of cakes, and biscuit, and beer, for 
sale, under a shelter of boughs, I bad to buy some for some 
boys who had spelt very well the words I had given out to 
them to spell. On my right hand was good evidence that 
the clay here was good for brick. The brick yard gave evi- 
dence also that brick was in demand. There is rock at hand 
for buildings. They have no lime stone. They have some 
oysters, and a small shell fish in great numbers. The shells 
they burn for lime. This settlement, notwithstanding the 
disadvantages it labors under by the sale of so much land to 
speculators in its neighborhood, is an the advance. It is but 
five years since its commencement, and may be set down as 
the largest township in Liberia, except Monrovia. The He= 
gister's report states that entries have been made for thirty- 
three farm lots of ten acres each; eight farm lots of nine 
acres each; thirteen farm lots of seven acres each; seventy- 
seven farm lots of five acres each; making in all, nine hun- 
dred and ten acres of farm land. This of course does not 
include the tracts of land bought and covered by land war- 
rants. Clay Ashland has carpenters, masons, a blacksmith, 
a doctor, a ship builder, surveyor, shoe makers, and a mer- 
chant. The population of the Kentucky Settlement in 1854, 
was four hundred and twenty-four. I should judge from 
the additions settled here from Kentucky since that time, the 
population now must be five hundred and fifty, if not more. 
There was a commendable neatness in the streets and door 



78 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

yards. I thought there was a spirit of enterprise as far as 
it could be shown in the absence of farming implements. I 
noticed here what I had observed in the \^irginia Settlement; 
that is, bad ulcers on the feet and legs of men and boys. If 
the skin is broke, a sore is created by exposure and neglect 
of it. Walking about in the grass at night, or in the woods, 
increases the soreness. Persons will be confined by them to 
the house. In some cases there will be a loss of a toe, but 
always a loss of time. It was gratifying to me in looking 
around upon the people to hear from their own mouths an 
expression of willingness to live in Liberia. And I thought 
it was decidedly better for them to be in Liberia, having their 
health, because they could make a comfortable living easier 
than they could in the United States. Their labor here is 
better rewarded than their labor would be to them in the 
United States. I saw several who were dissatisfied v^'ith 
Liberia. One had had a fight wdth a brother Liberian, and 
had bit off a part of his ear. The grand jury brought in a 
true bill against him for his mode of battle, and he, upon trial, 
was fined. He refused to pay the fine, and dai-ed them to its 
collection. His house and lot were sold to meet the fine and 
costs — and he was angry, and vowed to leave the country — 
and he did so by returning to Maryland in the ship on her re- 
turn to Baltimore. Another was too lazy to live any where. 
I am sorr}^ to say he was from Ohio county, Kentucky. I 
urged him to industr3^ He had a wife and five children. 
She supported the family. I dined with Dr. Moore. He is 
a Doctor, Methodist Preacher, and a Judge of the Quarter 
Sessions Court. We had for dinner bacon and greens, fresh 
fiirh, chickens, sweet potatoes and cassada. A well of good 
soft, water furnished us drink. I found in his family a little 
girl he had had bound out to him, whose mother had died. I 
learned from the doctor that there was a lyceum in the town, 
which met once a week, and at times they had a good ex- 
pression of Liberian talent. The nearest native town to 
Clay Ashland is eight miles. This Settlement can muster 
over a hundred men. There are cannon and public ammu- 
nition always on hand to meet any attack from the natives. 
Most of the men and larger boys were out of Clay Ashland 
working on the farms to prepare for the crops to be planted 
before the wet season set in. I saw nothing that indicated 
the place to be an unhealthy place. I returned to the ship 
by the St. Paul's river at its mouth, where I found myself in 
her cabin at 8 P. M. The thermometer at 7 P. M., was 81°. 
This day closes the year 1857. It finds me at its close in 
Liberia, doing good I hope. Truly the Lord "directs my 
steps, and in Him, are all my ways." I give him thanks for 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 79 

his grace, and his blessings, and his watchful care over me 
on the water, and on the land. My health was never better, 
and my strength fails not. "The sun has not smitten me by 
day, nor the moon by night." 

January 1, 1858. Thermometer in the cabin at 7 A.M., 
was 81°. I went on shore to spend the day in 

MONKOVIA. 

I had arranged to pay this day, money, to some Kentucky 
emigrants, left to them by their late masters. Gold and sil- 
ver have to be taken out to Liberia for such purposes, as our 
paper money is not current there. Thej^ have in Liberia a 
currency of their own. It is paper of the denominations of 
$5, $3, $1, and fifty cents, issued by law, and payable in gold 
and silver coin at the office of the Treasurer of the Repub- 
lic. The amount that can be issued by law, is $8,000 — $4, 
000 for Mesurado county, and $2,000 for each of the counties 
of Bassa and Sinoe. A Sub-Treasurer is appointed in the 
Bassa and Sinoe counties to pay the amount on demand al- 
lowed to each county. The money is a legal tender for pri- 
vate and public debts. The bills are signed by the Presi- 
dent of the Republic and the Secretary of the Treasury. 
Faith in the ability of the Liberian Government to pay the 
bills has to be exercised, as it is needful in taking a bank bill 
in the United States. The difference is, the Treasurer in Li- 
beria does not keep any gold and silver coin on hand speci- 
ally to pay the bills when presented; and here the banks 
issue more bills than they have silver or gold to redeem 
them, when a full and general call is made for cash payment. 
It is tweedle dee, and tweedle dum, in a time of great de- 
mand on both sides of the sea. I am sorry to say it was 
hard to get gold and silver for any bank paper without going 
to a broker who shaved the paper, when I left home for 
Liberia; and when in Liberia, those who wanted gold and 
silver of the Treasurer of the Republic, could not get it, for 
it was not on hand. Her paper was at five per cent dis- 
count for gold and silver. This discount was confined to 
merchants who wished to make payments abroad for their 
goods. Maryland county having come into the Republic of 
Liberia since the passage of the act in issuing this paper 
currency, has had no provisions for a branch sub-treasui-y of- 
fice for its citizens; but the "paper" is a legal tender in that 
country. The Government receives gold and silver for du- 
ties from foreigners, and also takes her paper for their pa}^- 
ment. The same is done from her citizens for their dues to 
the Government; and the Government very readily pays out 
the paper to meet its appropriations by law. There is a me- 



80 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

talic currency of $960 in circulation in two and one cent 
pieces, of equal amounts. Mr. Samuel Gurney, of London, 
proposed to the Liberion Government to have this currency, 
and he would pay the half of the amount, and half of the 
cost of the coinage in London, if the Government would pay 
the other half, which of course was done. Any individual 
can, by law, deposit money in the Treasury of the Republic 
on the responsibility of the Republic for repayment. A cer- 
tificate is given to the person depositing the money, signed 
by the Treasurer of the Republic, stating the date, and the 
amount of the deposit, and the time the deposit can be 
drawn out b}^ the presentation of the certificate. No inter- 
est is allowed on the deposit made for an indefinite time, nor 
is any charge made for receiving, keeping or paying back 
the deposit to the depositor, or his order. The money de- 
posited for the three years, (the least time money is received 
on deposit on interest,) receive four per cent interest; that 
for four years, five per cent interest, and that for six years, 
and longer, six per cent interest. The interest is paid semi- 
annually, if required. Three months notice must be given 
of the intention to withdraw the money. Money cannot be 
deposited by this law but in the Treasuries of Monrovia 
and Grand Bassa. Ten per cent interest on all contracts is 
legal when agreed upon by the parties. Open accounts, 
notes, bills of exchange, or other obligations for money due, 
the interest is six per cent, when no interest is mentioned. 
In the case of usury, the principal and interest is forfeited. 
There is no law of limitation in Liberia in bar of the recov- 
ery of a claim against the Republic, or corporate body, or 
individual. The Government can be sued for the non -per- 
formance of a contract made by an authorized person to act 
in her behalf! The suit is brought as against an individual 
with this change: "the Republic of Liberia, as defendant" — 
and the clerk of the court notifies the attorney of the Repub- 
lic to defend the suit. 

j^s I was very busy in attending to my business in a room 
in Dr. McGill's store-house, I could not accept of his invita- 
tion to dine with him, but his good lady sent to me a very 
fine dinner consisting of beef, chickens, plantain, eddoes, 
and sweet potatoes, with a good portion of pawpaw pie. 
The day has been one of great fatigue, and it suited my feel- 
ings to find that it is a practice in Monrovia for the stores on 
the wharfs to close up the business of the day at 5 P. M. I 
returned to the ship lor rest. Thermometer at 7 P. M. 82°. 

January 2. The thermometer at 7 A. M. was 81°. I went 
on shore and stopped in Monrovia. There are in Monrovia, 
twelve stores, five lawyers, (who also have other occupations 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 81 

in life,) twenty- six carpenters, eighteen masons, three ship- 
builders, three blacksmiths, three cabinet makers, two tin- 
ners, three tailors, six shoe makers, one tanner, three coop- 
ers, three milliners, one public house, nine schools, three 
churches, (another is being built,) two consul's offices, with 
a good assortment of places for hot pies and cakes, and 
beer. I regret to state that spirituous liquors were sold here, 
though I saw no drunkenness, nor heard of none, but of some 
of the ship's crew that had been permitted to go on shore on 
the Sabbath. Perhaps those Liberians "that be drunken, 
are drunken in the night." Liberia had a law that laid a 
duty of one dollar per gallon on all ardent spirits, wines, 
clarets, cordials and malt liquor landed in the Republic, but 
it has changed that law, for a law that collects a duty of 
twenty-five cents on each gallon of rum, gin, and whisky 
landed in the Republic; thirty-seven and a half cents on each 
gallon of brandy, wines, and cordial; and on ale, porter, and 
claret, six per cent, ad valorem. There is a strong opposition 
to the countenancing of the sale of spirituous liquors in Li- 
beria by her valuable citizens, but as it is at home, some re- 
spectable persons give their influence to that portion of com- 
munity to elect men to make laws that makes drinking a 
woe, a sorrow, and wounds without cause, and contentions. 
The leather is tanned in four weeks. The bark of the 
mangrove tree is used for tanning. The upper leather is 
better than the sole leather, in fineness of grain, and in tan- 
ning, as the sole leather is not tanned entirely through. The 
leather sells at twenty-five cents per pound. They have no 
good oil to use in dressing leather. Most of the leather 
made up here comes from the United States. Tailors find 
employment at prices similar to those charged by tailors at 
home. The cabinet makers find purchasers that call for the 
execution of some very fine cabinet work. The public house 
found patronage especially at the dining hour, from oflicers 
of the shipping in port, at $1 for dinner — the old price in the 
lower counties of Virginia when I was a boy — but then there 
was a good supply of toddy. There was not a barber's pole,, 
nor shop in Monrovia, and I will add, in Liberia. Those 
who followed that profession in this country have exchanged 
it for the ministry, the law, and other pursuits of life in Li- 
beria. The water is soft, and differs in its pleasantness ac- 
cording to its locality, and its being spring or well water. But 
all the water is affected by iron ore. The body of the citi- 
zens appear not to have any regular business to attend to. 
And many of the children of those who have accumulated 
wealth, do nothing of a domestic charBcter, while almost all 
of the people think it necessary (so I judged) to have a na- 
6 



82 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

tive to carry a bundle, even to a half pound weight. And 
that native will be in a native dress. Liberia lias a law that 
natives who are residents within the corporate limits of the 
several counties, whether adults or minors, shall be compell- 
ed to wear clothes, or pay a fine from one to five dollars. A 
native youth under eighteen years of age is not allowed to 
dwell in the families of colonists without they are bound for 
a specific term of years, according to the laws concerning 
apprentices; but these laws are a nullity throughout Liberia. 
There are citizens here, as in other places that 1 have visited, 
who have an excellent character for good sense, and upright 
deportment. Some of them are well calculated to give a 
forming character to the civil institutions of the country now 
in their infancy. And the present schools in Liberia (which 
will improve in standing for literary advantages, with the 
moral and religious instructions enjoyed in the country) will 
be adding yearly to the number of this class of persons. 
The good order that prevails in the towns, and the character, 
and adaptedness of the laws passed to the state of society, 
are standing proof of this belief. 

Monrovia is the Seat of Government of Liberia, and the 
Seat of Justice of the county of Mesurado. These advan- 
tages, with those of the Religious Societies in the United 
States, making this place the centre point of distributing 
their annual appropriations for the support of the ministry 
and schools of Liberia, must make Monrovia the most im- 
portant town in Liberia. It is the residence of many office 
holders, and the place of resort of those who are seeking for 
an office at the disposal of the Executive of the Republic. 
The officers of the Republic, the President, whose salary is 
$2,500 per year. (He is elected by the people, and holds 
his office for two years. He is eligible to re-election.) The 
Secretary of State, whose salary is $600 per year; the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury, whose salary is $750 per year, and 
the Attorney General, whose salary is $400 per year, are re- 
quired to live in Monrovia. These officers are appointed by 
the President, with the consent of the Senate. The Vice 
President is elected by the people to serve two years. He 
presides in the Senate, and acts as President in case of the 
death of the President, or his removal, or resignation, or in- 
ability to discharge the duties of his office. His salary is 
$400 per year. The Senate holds its sessions in the second 
story of the court house, a room thirty by forty feet, fitted up 
and furnished in a plain but neat style. It corresponds with 
the finances of the Republic. It is accessable by two fiight 
of stairs. A Senator is elected for four years. He must be 
not under twenty-five years old, and must own real estate 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 88 

worth $200. His pay is f 3 per day. The Senate, wb«*i full, 
has eight members — two fi'om each of the four counties. 
The House of Representatives hold its sessions in another 
building on another street. The lower floor of the building 
is fitted up something like an ordinary school house, with 
eleven unpainted desks for its members to sit at — a common 
table for the clerk, and a stand raised as high and as com- 
fortable as a pulpit is in an old log meeting house, for the 
speaker. The lobby has chairs and benches to accommodate 
a few spectators or hangers-on. The Secretar}'^ of State has 
his office over head in the second story; for the building has 
but two rooms in it. I think no one would charge the Legis- 
lature with extravagance, if they made an appropriation to 
have abetter house, or better fixtures for the members of the 
house, to hold their sessions in. A person to be eligible to 
the House must have resided in the county he represents two 
years, not be under twenty-three years old, and own real 
estate worth $150. His pay is $3 per day. Mesurado 
county sends four representatives — Bassa and Sinoe, each, 
three, and Maryland one. The Legislature holds its sessions 
annually, in December and January. The session averages 
six weeks. The Goverment's naval schooner, Lark, brings 
the Senators and Representatives from Bassa, Sinoe, and 
Maryland counties, to Monrovia, and takes them back whei* 
the Legislature adjourns. I went to see the Honorable Sen- 
ate and House of Representatives in session. Each body 
sustained its dignity in the courtesy of its respective mem- 
bers toward each other in the transaction of business. There 
was much decorum, and self respect, without ostentation, 
shown by the members of both houses. There was a due 
proportion of age and youth in the selection of the members. 
I had not an opportunity to hear any discussions in the Sen- 
ate chamber, as there was no business before the body that 
called for such action. In the House, there was enough eli- 
cited by the petition of the Common Council of Monrovia, 
to enlarge the coiporate limits of the city, to show that there 
was an "aptness of speech" in some of the membei's. I 
heard in the House the unbecoming, and to me, the unmean- 
ing cry, hear, hear, when a member w^as speaking. It is an 
apeing of the English habit in Parliament, and on public 
speaking occasions, that good taste should lay aside both in 
Africa and in England. Liberia should pay great attention 
to the election of her Legislators. Politics are becoming the 
order of the day. And small questions are made the ground 
of running opposing candidates. For example, the Consti-, 
tution says, "no person shall be entitled to hold real estate 
in the Republic unless he be a citizen of the same." "Ev- 



84 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

ery male citizen of twenly-one years of age, possessing real 
estate, shall have the right of suffrage." The Supreme Court 
of Liberia has decided an emigrant can at the fartherest time 
of three months, (the difference of time in holding the Court 
of Sessions when a sale of land can be sold according to 
public notice.) become possessed of real estate by purchase 
of land, or having drawn his farm land, and cleared two acres 
of it, have a deed for it, and be constitutionally a voter. But 
a party is springing up, claiming that emancipated slaves 
cannot, and shall not, be allowed to vote until they have 
been two years in Liberia. Another example — the Consti- 
tution gives to Mesurado county, four representatives, and to 
Bassa and Since, each, three representatives, and states, 
that for every ten thousand inhabitants in each county, there 
shall be an additional representative. After the Constitu- 
tion was adopted, Maryland, that was a distinct Common- 
wealth, came into the Republic as a county, with one Rep- 
resentative and two Senators. It is made a party question 
that Maryland is entitled to three Representatives, as she 
has as many inhabitants as either Bassa or Sinoe has. Such 
party measures tend to bring forward speakers rather than 
legislators. Liberia is so young in legislation, that she is li- 
able, by the body of her material, to have her young men 
govern her. Her mentors have much to do in guiding the 
ship of state. I had evidence before me in both branches of 
the Legislature that emancipated slaves can rise to high 
honors, and bear them well. I dined with Mr. James at a 
table ol fresh and salt provisions, with the usual vegetables. 
Education is much attended to in Monrovia. The Methodist 
and Presbyterian Missionary Societies in the United States 
sustain each, a high school here. The higher branches of 
English, and the Latin, and Greek, are taught more exten- 
sively in these schools than in any schools in Liberia. There 
are also schools taught by teachers who devote themselves 
to teaching as a profession. These schools are mainly sup- 
ported by charity. Some of the merchants in this place do 
a profitable business. I learned, that for some things, the 
Liberians pay seventy-five per cent profit, and the natives 
pay 175 per cent profit. There is not much palm oil, nor 
camwood obtained of the natives living in the interior back 
from this town or county. Several of the merchants keep a 
small vessel to trade up and down the coast, where these 
articles are chiefly obtained, and bring them to this town to 
sell to foreigners. By going up the Mesurado river several 
miles, and crossing over a tract of land four to five miles 
wide, you come to a branch of the Junk river. By taking a 
canoe on that river, you go down to Marshall, on the Junk 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 85 

river, which empties into the Atlantic ocean, forty miles 
from Monrovia. By this route, it is sixty miles to Marshall. 
Returned to the ship. 

January 3. Thermometer at 7 A. M., 81°. This day be- 
ing the Sabbath, I went on shore and preached in the morn- 
ing in the Presbyterian church, and in the Baptist church at 
3 P. M. The Rev. Mr. Day, the Baptist Minister, has a 
large congregation. He is the Superintendent of the Bap- 
tist Foreign Missionary Society, South, and the Judge of the 
Supreme Court of Liberia. He is much respected for his 
good common sense, and his fair attainments in legal and 
theological knowledge. He is about fifty-five years of age, 
and emigrated from Virginia in 1830. My dinner to-day at 
the Presbyterian Minister's house, was fresh beef, chicken, 
bacon, sweet potatoes, and cassada, with a rich pawpaw pie. 
Returned to the ship. The thermometer at 7 P. M., 82°. 

January 4. Thermometer at 7 A. M., 82°. I started very 
early to see the other 

SETTLEMENTS ON ST. PAUL'S RIVER. 
I did not stop until I reached 

LOUISIANA. 

It is on the south bank of the river above Caldwell. The 
land is high, and lies well for farming back from the river. 
The soil is good, being clay wdth sand. In the settlement, 
there are several purchased tracts of land, as well as drawn 
farm lands. Only one range of ten acre lots to the number 
of twenty, have been taken up. The balance is owned by 
purchasers; and many of them do not live on their lands. 
Considerable cane is raised here. This land is thought to be 
better adapted to cane than other lands on the river. I 
should think this conjecture arose from an attachment 
and use of their own land. For land all along on the same 
side of the river, up to the falls, is similar in soil. Many of 
Mr. McDonough's servants settled here in 1843. This settle- 
ment embraces what was called King Governors Town, a 
native, where four hundred and forty acres in ten acre farm 
lots had been taken up; but many of them have been 
merged into larger tracts. The same feature of streams of 
water exists herein the rear of these tracts. Louisiana is op- 
posite to Kentucky. But few coffee trees have been planted 
here. Corn and arrow root are also raised; but cane may be 
said to be the staple production. There is an eight horse 
power steam sugar mill on what is called the Jordan farm, 
but is now, with the land adjoining it, owned by three broth- 



86 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

ers, named Cooper. The mill was in operation when I stop- 
ped in this settlement. They were making syrup. They 
make one tiundred and thirty gallons a day, but have made 
one hundred and fifty gallons in a day. It was very good 
syrup, and commanded in Monrovia, fifty cents per gallon by 
the barrel, and seventy-five cents by the single gallon. The 
person who was making the syrup, brought his cane from 
across the river to gi'ind it. He used oxen with a slide 
about the mill. The neighbors bring their cane to the mill 
to be ground. Those who had the charge of working the 
mill, seemed to understand their business. I noticed that 
the honey bee was very troublesome about the premises. 
There is nothing in the way for a good thriving farming pop- 
ulation here, but the present system of cultivation. What- 
ever is raised, does not do justice to the land in showing 
what it can do to remunerate the owner by a proper cultiva- 
tion of it. The native laborer works on his own system, and 
the Liberian has adopted it. If a proper system of agricul- 
ture was adopted and carrif^d out, the employment of the 
native would be profitable to him, while the Liberian would 
be greatly enriched by it. The native would learn how to 
cultivate the earth for himself, and would practice the sys- 
tem before his tribe. There are cattle, and sheep, and 
swine here, but in a limited number, because the grounds 
are left too much exposed to have many of them running at 
large. It is high time to consider what is best for profit and 
example to others in having a well laid out, and a well 
managed, and properly cultivated farm. There are some 
owners of tracts of land in this settlement who reside in 
Monrovia, who can do this, and have thereby a better re- 
muneration from their land than that they now get. In 
1854, the number of inhabitants was two hundred and ten. 
When I mention the number of inhabitants in the towns, I do 
not include natives, except they have become citizens of the 
Republic. 

The next Settlement I visited, was 

WHITE PLAINS. 

This cannot be called a town, because in its municipal af- 
fairs it belongs to Millsburg on the opposite side of the river. 
It lies above Louisiana on the same side of the river. 
It was commenced as a Methodist Missionary Station, hav- 
ing two hundred acres of land assigned to it. A female 
high school is here. It was vacation in the school. A white 
female is superintendent of it. The scholars number twen- 
ty — many of them native girls. There is also a shop erect- 
ed to learn native boys different trades, especially the car- 
penters trade. Four native boys were working in the shop 



LIBERIA, AS i FOUND FT. 87 

at this time. The girls live in the school building. There 
is a house for the male superintendent of the mission to live 
in. A farm has been opened up, and a great many coffee 
trees have been put out, many of which are bearing. The 
ground is rolling as you go back from the river — having in 
the rear a small stream of water. The water here is good, 
for those who like soft water. But soft water acts upon the 
system of those who are accustomed to strong limestone wa- 
ter, when they first use it. It should be used sparingly, which is 
no easy thing in this climate, by new residents. There is a 
half town of natives outside of this tract of two hundred 
acres, in the interior, in whose vicinity a native school apart 
of the time is taught by a member of the mission. It is not 
practicable to teach native children and colonists children in 
the same school in the present state of the natives. The 
native children must be clothed, and must be taken entirely 
from their parents to keep them clothed. Otherwise, they at- 
tend the school irregularly, and that attendance is often with- 
out having the clothes on that have been given to them. It 
makes it expensive, and a waste of money, to keep them 
clothed with this capricious practice. A school in my judg- 
ment should be established, in the present condition of the 
natives in the midst of their own children, and the wearing 
of clothes be urged upon parents and children as fast, and 
by the best methods, that the good practical common sense 
of pious teachers, and missionaries, can adopt. It is not my 
place, nor my errand at this place, to contrast the expendi- 
ture on this mission station with its fruits. But I would ex- 
press most decidedly my opinion, that its location is good, as 
a healthy place. There are nine families living on each 
side of this mission station, having more or less land of their 
own. Some have bought land, and others are living on their 
ten acres. Corn, cane, coffee, arrow root, with a little cot- 
ton for domestic use, with much cassada, sweet potatoes, &;c., 
are raised here. They have some cattle, sheep, goats, swine 
and poultry. What a change for the better would a good 
plow make in these fields ! The plowman would soon, very 
soon, overtake the present reaper. The population of this 
settlement is included in that of Millsburg. 
The next settlement above White Plains, is 

HARRISBURG. 

This place is frequently called North Carolina. It has 
been but recently commenced. It lies abreast of the falls of 
the river St. Paul, which at high water, can be ascended by 
canoes and small row-boats, having an helmsman of great 
skill to guide the boat. At low water they are not passable 



88 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

for boats but at great risk. Harrisburg is separated from 
White Plains by a creek. I was told that a short distance 
up this creek, there were falls that furnished good water 
power for mill purposes. But in the present state of agri- 
culture, there can be no use for a mill here, except for saw- 
ing lumber. If corn were raised for bread, as it can be, and 
which the people, in mass, formerly used, a grist mill could 
find employment. At the mouth of this creek, on the Har- 
risburg side, there is a flat that can be used as a landing 
place for the settlement. It is immediately at the foot of the 
falls. The land of this place is rolling. It may be said to 
be in knobs varying in size from forty to seventy feet in 
height. It is a clay soil with fine broken up red stone. The 
hills are not too steep to plow, but are too near to each other, 
with too much ascent, for a town. Sixteen farm lots have 
been taken up; thirteen ten acre lots, and three five acre lots. 
Several of the hills are cleared. All is in a new state. It 
is a healthy place. The falls will be an impediment, I judge, 
to its growth, until the water power furnished by the falls is 
called for. They have a Presbyterian church here, a day 
school, and Sabbath school. The Presbyterian Minister is 
the person known through the African Repository, and the 
New York Journal of Commerce, as Uncle Simon. He was 
a slave residing in the Choctaw Nation of Indians. He, and 
his wife, and tliree children, were purchased by individuals 
in the neighborhood where they lived, and by contributors 
through the Journal of Commerce in New York City. He 
was an Exkorter among his associates before his removal to 
Liberia. After his arrival in Liberia, he was licensed to 
preach by the Presbytery of Liberia. He raises some cot- 
ton. Cotton grows on the cotton tree, that grows to a great 
height. This cotton is not gathered. But the cotton that is 
used, and is of good quality, is planted, and grows on a shrub 
that is from seven to eight feet high. I measured one of the 
shrubs five feet from the ground, and it was seven inches in 
circumference. On the branches were pods out of which 
the ripe cotton had fallen; pods containing the cotton ready 
to pick; pods bursting open by the swelling cotton, and the 
new blossom from the forming pod. There are no fields of 
cotton in Liberia. A half mile back from the river is a half 
town of natives. They are peaceable, and cultivate in com- 
mon, what land they need to raise their food. An effort is 
being made to have a school among them. By walking past 
this town, and going on to the rise of a cleared hill, I saw 
that the land lying back in the interior was rolling, with 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 89 

heavy timber on it. The thermometer at 2 P. M.,in the 
shade, was 92°. 

I crossed the river to 

MILLSBURG. 

The census of Liberia, of 1844, states that Millsburg was 
settled in 1828. But the Register's books say that Gov. Ash- 
man settled it in 1824-5. In 1828, one hundred and seven 
emancipated servants from Georgia and North Carolina, by 
two different expeditions, were placed here. It is the oldest 
Settlement, except Caldwell, on the St. Paul's river. The 
town is laid out below the falls in town lots, with farm lots 
adjoining the town. One hundred and ninety-one town lots 
of one-fourth of an acre have been drawn, but most of them 
for different causes, have been abandoned. There may be 
thirty-five of them now occupied. The upper part of the 
town is low on the banks of the river. Sometimes in the 
rainy season, the river rises so high as to overflow some of 
the lots in that part of the town. It of course does some in- 
jury to the lots; but never does the high water take of the 
fences. Up to 1844, four hundred and thirty-five emigrants, 
including the first settlers, had been sent to this town. Of 
this number, twenty-two were free born. There have been 
drawn in this township, on this side of the river, (for White 
Plains is included in its civil affairs,) sixty-three farm lots of 
ten acres each, six hundred and thirty acres; six farm lots of 
seven acres each, forty-two acres; ten farm lots of five acres 
each, fifty acres — in all, seven hundred and twenty-two acres. 
To these lots some purchased land is to be added. There 
are some farmers here who will compete in the raising of 
coffee, rice, cane, and ground nuts, with any Settlements on 
the river. There is a mill here to grind sugar cane, but it 
employs human power to turn it. I noticed some clearings, 
and preparations by fire, and the axe, for crops on new 
ground. And back from the town, the land was more roll- 
ing. A few had cattle, but they were not used to the plow. 
It may be asked, could not the farmers in Liberia, get plows 
to work? I can only answer — one said he had a plow, bat it 
was broken, and he could not get it mended in Liberia as it 
was a cast plow — another said, we cannot raise money 
enough to send to the United States for our plows, and our 
merchants do not keep them for sale — another said, our bul- 
locks are not strong enough to plow with. I noticed in the 
list of premiums at the fair, that a Kentuckian living in Clay 
Ashland, had made a plow, and took a premium of $5 for it, 
being a special article presented. This plow is proof that 
the whole iron work done on a plow can be made in Libe- 



90 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

ria of wrought iron. And I can bespeak for the maker, that 
he can make to order, other plows. There are sheep, and 
goats, and swine, in Millsburg. I noticed on the main street, 
two churches, Methodist and Baptist. Each denomination 
has a day school, and a Sabbath school. There is no white 
person living in the town. They have cannon and ammuni- 
tion sufficient for defense. They can muster seventy men. 
But these settlements on the river are so near to each other, 
that there is no danger of an attack from the natives. And 
beside, the natives, for years, I am told, have shown a friendly 
disposition toward the Liberians. Liberia, I was informed, 
had some of her best citizens living in this township; and 
the remark was made to me, that the place was improving 
in farming. But its flatness immediately on the river does 
not speak as favorably for its health as a place desirable for 
new colonists to settle in. In 1844, there were two hun- 
dred and twenty-one souls in this Settlement. In 1854, there 
were three hundred and fifty -five. In passing down the river, 
on the north side, I came to the 

NEW YORK SETTLEMENT. 

Strictly speaking, this is Kentucky — for Kentucky com- 
mences by purchase at the south-w^est boundary line of Mills- 
burg. It is called New York, because some settlers from 
New York located here. A tier of farm lots has been laid 
out on the river. Nineteen lots of ten acres each, and four 
lots of five acres each — in all, two hundred and ten acres, 
running a half mile back from the river, have been drawn by 
emigrants; but land has been bought for two miles back in 
the rear of these lots. Some are living on these lands, and 
others are holding them tor speculation. Coff^ee trees have 
been planted — while cane, with some of the people, is the 
great article of cultivation. The land is of the character of 
that in the Kentucky Settlement. The clay is so much mix- 
ed with sand as not to hold water, and to make it easy of 
culture. Within this settlement is the Richardson farm. He 
was the most energetic and practical farmer that Liberia ever 
had. This is seen by going on to his farm, even though he 
is not there to carry it on. He came to Liberia in 1851. He 
bought land warrants, and purchased Government lands, to 
have a large body of land in one tract. He built a large 
two story brick house for a steam sugar mill, which he had 
ordered to be sent to him from New York, having remitted 
$1,200 in advance upon it. The brick he made on his own 
land. Here were barns, and stables, and sheds. He worked 
seven yoke of cattle, had several cows, and a number of 
sheep and swine, ducks and chickens, and turkeys. He had 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 91 

divided his front lot by a rail fence, put up after the Virginia 
fashion, to keep his stock from his fields planted with cas- 
sada, sw^et potatoes, corn, sugar cane, (fee, &c. Under the 
sheds were carts, plows, harrows, chains, hoes, spades, frows, 
wedges, &c., showing full preparation for farming his land. 
Grass was cut for his cattle. He employed from thirty to 
forty men, natives and Liberians. His chief attention was 
given to raising sugar cane. In carrying on his farm he met 
much of the expense by trading with the natives in the in- 
terior. The Mandingo tribe, some sixty miles from the sea 
coast, furnished him with cattle, camwood, ivory, and cotton 
cloth, in exchange for tobacco, calico, kettles, &c. The ar- 
ticles he got that he did not want, he found a ready sale for, 
from the butcher, the merchant, and his neighbors. I was 
told that the Mandingo tribe raised a good quantity of cot- 
ton. They make cotton cloth for their own persons as a man- 
tle, and sold such cloth to other tribes. It is woven in strips 
nine inches wide, and sowed together. Some of the cloth is 
plain, while other pieces would be an alternate strip of 
black and white, or blue and white. I obtained a piece of 
the cloth, which is three and a half yards long, and one and 
three quarter yards wide. Some of their cloths are made 
fine, and are so woven as to admit the head through a hole 
at its top, leaving the body of the cloth to hang over the 
body down below the knees. Such patterns are more or less 
ornamented. This style of clothes are worn by Chiefs and 
Kings. The price that Richardson would sell them at, 
would vary from $1 to $5, according to kind and quality. 
There are evidences that cotton can be an article of export 
from the interior. Richardson's work for himself, and his 
adopted land, is over. He was drowned in 1856, as he was 
going down the river in a canoe to Monrovia. The wind 
was high, and he directed the native men in the canoe to 
paddle the canoe to the other side of the river to avoid the 
wind, by being under the cover of the bank of the river. 
They protested, and warned him of the danger of upset- 
ting, but he would turn his course thither. He did so, and 
soon the canoe upset. He could not swim, and drowned. I 
went to his grave on his farm. A plain tombstone tells who 
sleeps there until the morning of the resurrection. In view 
of his loss to Liberia, well may we say, "God's ways are not 
as our ways." But Richardson's agricultural mantle will 
fall on some other colored man, in due season. The sugar 
mill he ordered had arrived, and is now being moved up to 
his farm to be set to work by his brother-in-law, who has ta- 
ken the oversight of the farm. The syrup I saw making at 



92 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

the steam mill on the Jordan farm, was from the cane raised 
on the Richardson farm. 

This being the last of the Settlements on the St. Paul's 
river to visit, I took the boat to return to the ship. My mind 
was busy on my way with reflections on what I had seen day 
after day. In every settlement on this river, I had seen fam- 
ilies, who were setting good examples in their moral habits, 
their sobriety, and their use of the political and civil institu- 
tions of Liberia. Here was land on which could be raised 
articles that would enrich the farmer, and increase by their 
commerce, the political strength of the Republic. But the 
people, to realize these results, needed the decision of Solo- 
mon to be impressed on their minds: "where no oxen are, 
the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the 
ox." This people did not come to this land with the mo- 
tives before them that induce to the settlements of new wes- 
tern lands in the United States. To make money was not 
the great attraction to move here. It was to have civil lib- 
erty. Still, as they can have a good home in Liberia, they 
should let that be a strong motive to action to have in pos- 
session the good things of the land. The people here want 
a good outlet for the productions they can raise largely on their 
lands. They now raise them in driblets, and sell them in 
driblets. No railroads nor canjils can start in their facilities 
to take their produce to a market. They must move slow, 
and especially so, when they cannot get cash lor their labor. 
If merchants would buy coffee for example, giving^eleven 
cents cash for it, (for any community can use cash more ad- 
vantageously to their interest than they can use barter,) it 
would no doubt make a change in the agriculture of this land. 
And if some enterprising mercantile friend in the United 
States would propose to give the Liberian merchant twelve 
cents for the coffee of the first quality that is raised here, 
that mercantile friend would not be a loser in his pocket, nor 
in my judgment, a foe to the welfare of Liberia. It is due 
to this people to say, I would not have known from any 
thing I saw in passing up and down the river, that I was in 
a heathen land^ or that I was reminded that a struggle was 
going on here between heathenism and Christianity, or that 
I was "in a desert land, and a waste howling wilderness," 
"where no comfort is." What I saw that made a deep im- 
pression of regret on my mind, was their system of agricul- 
ture. For until that is successfully changed for the better, a 
clould of doubt appertaining to the support of their civil gov- 
ernment, is on my mind. Certainly I have read of more 
struggle, more self denial, and more real want, in the early 
settlements in Western Pennsylvania and New York, in 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 9 



Q 



Northern Ohio and Indiana, than these Liberians have had 
to pass through. Perhaps the anxiety of the friends of Li- 
beria has led them to look for advance, to be by this time, 
lilie unto a Chicago, forgetting that the Israelites could not 
make the tale of bricks in a day when they had not the straw 
on hand to do it. But the reader can form his own judg- 
ment of this part of Liberia, as it is my aim to place the 
country before his mind for that purpose. Having this ob- 
ject continually in view, I hope he will not condemn my too 
great minuteness of statements. I returned to the ship at 9 
P. M. The thermometer at 7 P. M. was 82°. 

January 5. The thermometer at 7 A. M. was 82°. Hav- 
ing learned from the Captain of the ship, that the ship would 
not stop at Marshall, a town down on the coast in Mesurado 
county, I went on shore to get information of the place. 
The Secretary of State (who owns a farm there) informed 
me that it was a small place, and was on the decline. It 
was on the north bank of the Junk river, and was a Port of 
Entry. It is noted for its oysters, in quantity and quality. 
Much lime was made from the burnt shells, which found a 
good market, especially in Monrovia. There is a good steam 
saw mill in operation there, which is owned by a mercantile 
firm in Monrovia. It cut on an average, fifteen hundred feet 
per day, and furnished at Monrovia, whismore boards an inch 
thick, at $3 50 per hundred; poplar, $3 per hundred, and ce- 
dar at $3 75. Shingles sell in Monrovia, and in the other 
Settlements, at $5 per thousand. They are made of red 
oak, whismore, and of the upper mangrove. The latter 
timber is considered the most durable. I find, by referring to 
the census of 1844, that Marshall was first settled by placing 
there, thirty-seven recaptured Africans in 1835. In 1836, sev- 
enty-four free born and emancipated servants from Virginia 
settled here. Up to 1844, the natural increase with other 
emigrants locating here, the population was one hundred 
and forty-two. During the years 1841-2-3, the imports 
amounted to $5,311 12. The exports being palm oil, cam- 
wood, and ivory, were $5,798 04. The population in 1854 
was one hundred and twenty three. I returned to the ship. 
The thermometer at 7 P. M. was 81°. 

January 6. Thermometer at 7 A. M. was 82°. The ship 
weighed anchor for Buchanan, commonly called Bassa. Bas- 
sa is a term used to designate a large tract of country. Its 
divisions are Grand Bassa and Little Bassa. The wind was 
very light, so that our progress was very slow. The imme- 
diate coast was low. But back from the coast it is rolling 
ground. After passing the mouth of Junk river there are 
many high hills, some fifteen to twenty miles back from the 



94 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

coast. From the Admiralty Chart Coast before me, I find a 
range of hills extends thirty miles parallel with the coast. 
Saddle Hill is one thousand and seventy feet high. Table 
Hill is one thousand one hundred feet high. Still farther 
down, there are peaks of land very high, ranging from two 
hundred and ten to two hundred and forty feet high. And 
still farther back, there are several mounts, as Tobacco 
Mount, eight hundred and eighty feet high. The chart lays 
down several good landing places on this part of the coast. 
As night drew on, it became very hazy. At 8 P. M. the Cap- 
tain judged we were off Buchanan. We cast anchor, and 
''wished for morning," though all was calm. Thermometer 
at 7 P. M. was 82o. 

January 7. When it was day, wx discovered that we 
were .several miles from our port. We weighed anchor, but 
had a strong current against us, and but a light wind to aid 
us. The thermometer at 7 A. M. was 82°. At 3 P. M. we 
cast anchor off of 

BASSA. 

The Liberian county of Bassa commences at the south- 
eastern bank of the Junk river, and runs down on the sea 
coast to the Sanqvvin river, making it one huudred and fifty 
miles long. Its average breadth is forty miles. There are 
fifteen trading places with the natives within this county, on 
the coast, at which the Liberians, English, Americans, Ger- 
mans, and French, trade more or less. A license has to be 
taken out of the Collector's office, called a coasting license, 
to sell goods to the natives: also, duties have to be paid on 
the goods sold to them. They trade in cotton cloth, tobacco, 
rum, powder, guns, brass and iron kettles, earthenware, &c,, 
and take in pay, palm oil, camwood, ivor}', &c. Five leaves 
of tobacco, as assorted in Liberia, are counted a head, and 
five heads are called a bar which ^purports to weigh (it is 
never weighed) one pound and a quarter. Four bars are 
estimated to weigh five pounds, and are given to a native 
for a kroo of palm oil. This is the fixed payment for a kroo 
of oil, and a kroo of oil is the fixed payment for that quan- 
tity of tobacco, let the value of either article be higher or 
lower, better or poorer. A kroo is six gallons. A gallon of 
palm oil weighs seven pounds. A kroo weighing forty-two 
pounds, and the tobacco averaging fifteen cents per pound, 
brings the oil at two and six-sevenths cents per pound. It 
sells in the United States from eight to ten cents per pound, 
seldom lower, but often higher. The oil is in a congealed 
state. Four iathom of cotton cloth is called eight yards. It 
is measured by stretching out the arms at full length, which 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 95 

measure is called two fathoms. Eight yards are given for a 
kroo of oil. Cotton cloth that is striped or spotted with va- 
rious colors is called satin stripes, and royal checks. They 
are of English manufacture. When first sold to the natives 
they were fast colors, and took the preference over American 
cottons. But they are not now always fast colors, as speci- 
mens in my possession show. The piece contains eighteen 
yards, and the cloth is twenty-nine inches wide. It would 
compare with our six cent calico as to quality. It retails in 
some of the settlements at twenty-five to thirty cents per 
yard. A piece of satin stripe or royal checks is given for 
three kroos of oil. A brass kettle weighing six pounds, at 
the cost of forty-five to fifty cents per pound, is given for 
three kroos of oil. A kettle weighing one and a half pounds, 
buys two kroos of oil. The natives prefer American kettles 
to those of the English or German, because they are heavier 
and are made of a better material. It is plain there is not 
in this trade with the natives much of the principle, "do 
unto others as you would that others should do unto you." 

Bassa county was first settled in 1832, by one hundred per- 
sons from Monrovia, to prepare the way for others expected 
from the United States. Twenty-five of this number after- 
wards moved to Cape Palmas. Up to 1844, there had been 
settled in this county other emigrants, to make the number 
four hundred and sixty-one. The natives had two towns 
two miles and a half apart, called Bassa and Fishtown. 
The natives in both of these towns have made new settle- 
ments up the St. John's river. These two towns were in- 
corporated as one town, by the name of Buchanan, after the 
Governor of the Liberian Commonwealth, from 1^35 to 1841. 
In 1835, the natives who had moved back up the river, with 
other tribes, made an attack upon the colonists. Twenty of 
the colonists were killed, but the natives were severely pun- 
ished by the Liberians. 

The ship anchored between the mouth of the St. John's 
river and Fishtown. The St. John's river rises some distance 
back in the country, and running a south-west course, emp- 
ties into the ocean with a mouth about four hundred and 
fifty yards wide. It has, I am told, the worst bar of any 
river in Liberia, except the Cavalla river below Cape Pal- 
mas. The landing of goods for all the places on this river, 
and its tributaries, is on the sea shore between Bassa and 
Fishtown. It would be a risk, except in most special favora- 
ble opportunities, for a vessel of twenty tons to cross the bar. 
I crossed it in a row-boat once, which satisfied me with its 
tossings of the boat, and the wetting of my clothes with its 
spray. It is distant from here to Monrovia, eighty-one miles. 



96 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

Inside of the bar the St. John's river is navigable for vessels 
of forty tons for twelve miles up its stream, when the falls in 
the river will only allow small row-boats and canoes to pass 
them. The river receives several creeks on each side of its 
banks, until it reaches within three -fourths of a mile of its 
mouth, then it receives the Mecklin river coming from the 
north-west, and then the Benson river coming from the south- 
east. The Mecklin river, named after a Governor of Libe- 
ria of that name, rises a great distance in the interior, and 
runt^, as it approaches the coast, for many miles, parallel with 
it. It is navigable for vessels of thirty tons for a great many 
miles, and is about two hundred and fifty yards wide at its 
mouth. Most of the palm oil that is shipped from this point, 
comes down this river. There is very little doubt but the 
great bulk of the water of this river comes from the small 
streams arising from springs or wet places distributed amidst 
cultivable land back from the sea coast. The Benson river 
is a small stream, navigable for row-boats for five miles, and 
for canoes for five miles farther up. Buchanan lies on the 
south-east side of the St. John's river, having its north-east 
line running across the Benson river. The town is laid out 
three miles square, and is divided into two wards, upper and 
lower; but it is next to impossible to use these names when 
the common cognomen Bassa and Fishtown have been used 
for time that I cannot give day nor year. 

I first visited Fishtown. This part of Buchanan was set- 
tled in 1852. The ground commences to rise at the sea 
beach, and in a half mile back, attains a height of twelve 
feet. It is a sand formation, evidently from the heavings of 
the ocean. You are in the town on landing, and by travel- 
ling at the slow rate, that must be made in such a lose soil, 
of a quarter of a mile, we came to a house and store, and 
an inclosed garden. The house was a comfortable framed 
building, owned and occupied by a person who was a Bap- 
tist Minister and a merchant. He and his family were liv- 
ing on the sales of goods, and the sales of things taken in 
payment for those goods, from the natives. His garden fur- 
nished him with the improvements of an additional quarter 
of an acre, with the usual vegetables and fruits of this coun- 
try. He had six head of cattle, six goats, and four sheep. I 
measured his bull, and a cow — both were two years old. The 
former, from the horns to the tail, was five feet two inches. 
He was three feet and four inches high, and girthed four 
feet ten inches. The cow measured six feet long — three 
feet one inch high, and girthed four feet ten inches. The 
calf was a fine calf in proportion to the size of its parents. 
The cows have calves in this country every eleven months. 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 97 

The cattle were fat, and had very fine soft short hair. The 
good woman of the house made two and a half pounds of 
butter a week from two cows. I learned from this merchant 
and preacher, as we strolled through the town, that he had 
often gone back into the interior of the country in pursuit of 
palm oil, and that he had found before he left the limits of 
the town, a wet piece of ground, with a stream of living wa- 
ter running through it; passing this, he came to a tract of 
dry land. After passing that, he came to a Bamboo swamp, 
three-fourths of a mile wide, he judged, which made up to- 
ward Benson river. After he had crossed this swamp, the 
land was good and high, and the farther he went back it 
was rolling, until he came to high hills. This swamp was 
on the north-east limits of the township of Buchanan. The 
stream flowing from this swamp, formed Mission creek, which 
takes its name from an Episcopal Mission established on its 
bank, mid-way between upper and lower Buchanan. The 
Mission House is a large building in which a school for na- 
tive children had been taught. The Missionary and wife had 
left for a visit to their friends in the United States. This 
creek, on its passage through the corporate limits of the 
town of Buchanan, by being blocked up by sand at its mouth 
most of the dry season, makes a pond for some length. It 
is necessary to bridge it, to connect the communication be- 
tween the two wards of the town. For in the rainy season 
it is not passable — but alas, it is not yet bridged — the appro- 
priation of $150 of the Government toward its erection 
not having been paid. As we pursued our walk, it was 
plainly evident that the soil could not sustain a population 
of industrious people. It is not farming land, nor is there 
any richness in the soil, or any thing in the location of the 
land to excite the hope that a town could exist at Fishtown. 
The natives could live here, following the business their name 
indicates — iishermen — but as to emigrants coming to this 
country, who are accustomed to farming, and settling down 
here, is a strange idea to me, when there is much land suitable 
for that purpose, elsewhere, to be possessed. A quarter of an 
acre farm is too small, even in Liberia. I found one poor fel- 
low whose wife had, a few months past, presented him with 
three children at one birth, had been constrained to add an- 
other farm of a quarter of an acre to his already improved 
farm, to provide for them. He gave $30 per quarter of an 
acre. He did this rather than go outside of the limits of the 
town, and draw five acres of land. Only sixty-five lots were 
claimed by those living here. Many of the first settlers 
were dead, or had moved away. The number of inhabitants 
in this ward was one hundred and thirty. At present there 

i 



98 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 



is no school kept here. There had been a Receptacle built 
of logs for emigrants to acclimate in, but a tornado, in the fall 
of 1855, blew it down. There were no emigrants in it at 
the time. Many of the people saw hard times to get along, 
and I did not blame some of them for begging some assis- 
tance. And after all, an enterprising person could have here 
an annual income by planting out the coffee tree. For I 
saw some coffee trees growing here in their prime. I re- 
turned to the ship, a fellow passenger taking with him a 
bottle of milk for our coffee. Thermometer on board at 7 
P. M. 820. 

January 8. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 82°. 1 went on shore 
to visit 

BASSA, OR UPPER BUCHANAN. 

After landing on the beach, I crossed what would be the 
mouth of Mission creek, if it were not filled up with sand 
from the washing of the sea beach. The creek is a very 
sluggish stream in this part of the dry season; and that part 
of it that was open, back from the beach, was a foot deep. 
In the rains the creek rises and forces away the sand at its 
mouth, and its waters mingle with the raging waters of the 
St. John's on its bar. Upper Buchanan is not a desirable 
location for land or health. It has a marsh running back 
into the town which is laid bare twice in twentj^-four hours. 
It has mangrove swamps along the edges of Benson river, 
and a swamp that comes into the town. There is but one 
street that runs through the improved part of the town without 
having marsh or swampy land to prevent its passage through, 
except in the outskirts in the eastern part of the town. The 
soil is white sand, with very little loam in it. The water is 
soft, and is tinctured with the taste of its land formation, 
similar in taste to the water of Norfolk, Virginia. The peo- 
ple depend on wells, and obtain water by digging twelve to 
jfifteen feet. The place is the Seat of Justice for Grand 
Bassa county. It has a court house and jail. It being a 
Port of Entry, it has a Collector's office. There are two 
framed churches, Methodist and Baptist. The Episcopalians 
worship in the court house, and are preparing the materials 
for a church. There are six stores in the town, which do all 
the mercantile business of the county. Several of the houses 
<cost from $150 to $2,500, and some did not cost more than 
$50. The orange, the banana, with its large bunches weigh- 
ing a dozen pounds or more, the guavo, the mango plumb, 
and different garden vegetables, with the cassada and sweet 
potatoes, indicate that even this sand will yield products for 
man's support. But it cannot be denied, that in the vegeta- 



LIBiiRIA, AS I FOUND IT. 99 

ble line, the growth bespeaks poverty of soil. It is the palm 
oil trade that keeps up the town. This trade enables the 
people to buy oil of the natives, and to sell the oil at an ad- 
vance to buy what their families need for their support after 
consuming what the town lot produces. I was in many of 
the dwelling houses of those who held offices, and in those 
of pri\7^ate citizens, and there appeared a comfort, and cleanli- 
ness, and family order, that was gratifying to me. There 
was a difference in families as to the filling up the rooms 
with various things, that some wives and daughters will per- 
suade the fathers to buy; yet, in all I saw% I would not know 
the houses were occupied by colored people, did I not look 
in their faces. I was astonished at the rapid and strong 
growth of the coffee tree in this sandy soil. The trees were 
suffered to grow too high for picking the berry profitably, and 
to admit the rays of the sun to aid the growth of the berry. 
One man named John Dunn, set free by Andrew Mulder, de- 
ceased, of Woodford county, Kentucky, and sent to Liberia 
in 1836, had six hundred bearing trees. The trees, I thought, 
woujd average eight pounds if carefully picked. The price 
of picking is twenty cents per bushel. He was reputed to 
be a rich man. He had added to his town lot other lots, and 
had one hundred and tw^enty acres of farm land. He had 
five children born in this town. There were eight persons 
sent by Mr. Mulder; two only of them are living. The 
weeds do not find much nourishment from the sand to grow 
rank and large; nor does the grass spring up and grow as 
the weeds and grass grow on the clay soil on the 8t. Paul's 
river. The coftee tree seems here to have the full benefit of 
what a loose sand can give it. There is more coffee g^athered 
in this county, for sale, than on the St. Paul's river, consider- 
ing the number of farms. It is true, that only the year 
1358-7, can be adduced to show this. In that fiscal year, 
the exports from this county, give eight thousand nine hun- 
dred and eighty pounds, as shipped abroad. The thermom- 
eter at 10 A. M. in the shade, in this town, was 87°. 

I took a boat and went up the St. John's river. The river 
in width for six miles averaged two hundred and fifty yards. 
Two miles up the river is Factory Island, which contains 
some forty acres of land. Most of the ground is so low that 
it can be worked only in the dry season. A number of years 
ago an attempt was made, at much expense, to have a High 
School kept on this Island. The why, I cannot explain, even 
to the satisfaction of its then supporters. It w^as, as might 
have been expected from its position, a failure. Experience 
has taught many salutary lessons in regard to the ways of 
doing good in this land. The school was removed to a place 



100 LIBERIA, A3 I FOUND IT. 

higher up on the west bank of the river, about six miles from 
Buchanan. I passed the place in full view. But the school 
has not flourished much since the Rev. Mr. Day, its former 
teacher, moved to Monrovia. This school is for native chil- 
dren. Higher up the river there are three other Islands, but 
they are small; and fj-om the present abundance of land on 
the shores of the river, there is no need to cultivate what lit- 
tle arable land is on the islands. Beyond these Islands 
stood, on the east bank of the river, a two story framed 
house, built and owned by a native, who has piofessed Chris- 
tianity, and is a much respected citizen, as 1 should judge, 
from the manner the people spoke of him in regard to his 
morals and money transactions with them. This is eight 
miles from Buchanan. On the west bank of the river is 

BEXLEY. 

This settlement was commenced in 1887. The towrnship 
is laid out three miles square back from the river. It has 
two tier of ten acre lots laid off with an avenue between 
them. The banks of the river are higher here than any 
where down the river to its mouth. We landed at a farm 
having the house standing a quarter of a mile back from the 
river on an ascent of ground, sixty feet above the level of 
the river. The water was soft, sweet, and good, as 1 tested 
it on reaching the house. In going back this first tier of lots, 
and entering on the avenue, 1 was struck with the palm tree 
hedges. For a mile and a half, I was very much taken up 
with them. It was indeed, a new sight to me. Let me tell you 
about them. The palm nut is planted in the line for the 
hedge, fourteen inches apart; and in five years it is a per- 
manent living hedge. And it can be a very profitable hedge. 
It is a hedge that man, nor beast, nor hog, (if he be not a 
beast) nor fowl, cannot pass through. An opening is left for 
a gate. Its growth is very rapid, there being no frost to put 
it back. Each year, as the body grows, the stems or leaves, 
which put out in clusters all around the top, are cut off, 
dwarfing the tree, until it gets the height of four feet, or 
higher it you please. When at the height you wish, you 
have in the body a size that brings each body so near to 
each other as to prevent a passage between them for any 
depredator. When the hedge is as high as required, then 
the stems or bunches which grow from eight to ten feet in 
length around the top of the tree (having the appearance of 
an umbrella turned inside out) are thined out to let in the 
sun that the nuts may grow and mature. The nuts grow in 
clusters, each one in its separate socket, to the number of 
three to four hundred in a bunch, supported by a strong 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 101 

stem that puts out at the top of the tree. Three to four 
bunches can be had from a tree in a year. Thus the tree is 
formed for a hedge, and furnishes the palm nut for palm oil, 
for palm butter, and for any purposes that oil is used. The 
tree, if left to grow, will sometimes run to eighty feet high 
without a limb. Generally they grow fifty feet high. The 
natives, by practice, climb like squirrels up the trees for the 
nuts. The nut is somewhat oval in shape — some of them neary 
the size of a pullet's egg- It is red when ripe. In a few years 
the body of the tree is fourteen inches diameter. For a hedge, 
the nuts are planted in April or May. Some cut down a 
tree when the nuts are ripe, and from the roots spring up 
hundreds of scions to be transplanted. There is a law for- 
bidding the cutting down of the palm tree on the public 
lands. The penalty is $5. As I passed along, I could see 
ten acres, and five acres, thus inclosed. The only objection 
to such hedges might be their height, and the dense close- 
ness of the leaves on small tracts of land, shutting out a free 
circulation of air, in such a climate as they have here. In 
this county a great deal of palm oil is made for sale by the 
natives. Perhaps more is made by the natives in this county 
than in the other counties in Liberia. A square pit is 
made in the ground something like to tan vats. The place 
is filled with palm nuts, when in a ripe state. Women 
trample them, when passing into a decomposed state, to 
press the oil out of the shell of the nut. They then 
let water into the vat, which separates the oil, which is 
taken up by the hand into a dish. It will be seen that this 
is a wasteful way to get the oil, as much of it is absorbed by 
the ground, and much of it adheres to the broken pieces of 
the bark. The oil is got b}^ the natives from the shell or 
bark. They do not use the kernel to make oil of. This is 
called the Bassa way of making palm oil. Another w^ay is 
to bur\^ the nuts in the ground until they are soft to the pres- 
sure of the finger. They are then taken out and put in fa 
box or small canoe, and tramped or beaten into a jelly. It 
is next put into a cloth woven with small meshes. Warm 
water is thrown on the mass, and it is strained into a box or 
canoe in which is water, that the oil may rise to the surface. 
Others will boil the mass that is tramped or pounded, and 
then strain the mass into water for the oil to rise on the top. 
Either way is a heathenish way to get the oil from the shell. 
It has been found within a few years past, that a better oil 
can be made out of the kernel, which is called by some, palm 
lard. I saw some of it in Buchanan. One and a half gal- 
lons are made from a bushel of kernels, by pounding them 
with a pestle in a mortar, and then boiling the whole to ob- 



102 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 



tain the oil. If a more chemical process was used, a greater 
quantity of oil would be obtained from a bushel of kernels. 
The above method is used by a Liberian. The natives have, 
within a few years, saved the kernels to sell. Formerly they 
were thrown away. The English, Dutch, and French, buy 
them, giving fifty *cents per bushel. In 1856-7, there were 
exported from this county, three hundred bushels of palm 
kernels. Oil from palm nuts can he made one of the greatest ar- 
ticles of trade in the world. The oil obtained from the kernel 
sells in Liberia at seventy five cents per gallon, and that 
from the shell sells at thirty-seven to forty-four cents per gal- 
lon. The palm tree can be planted just where the owner of 
land pleases to have them. He can have an orchard of them, 
or a hedge around his farm, or scatter them on his premises. 
At different times in the year he can gather the nuts and 
make an oil for which the whole civilizee world is increasing 
annuall}' its demands. It is a singular fact, that the stump of 
a palm tree, seventeen inches in diameter, will so far rot in 
sixteen months, from the cutting down of the tree, that it 
can, by the force of a man, be turned up out of the ground. 
The heart of the tree is a pith. I dined in Bexley on fresh 
mutton, cassada, sweet potatoes, rice, and eddoes, with Mr. 
Jackson from Shelby county, Kentucky. He is a magistrate, 
and a very highly respected citizen. He was sent to Libe- 
ria with other fellow servants, in 1844, by J. H. Wilson, Esq., 
of IShelby county. I found arrow root was raised here more 
extensively than I had found it in other settlements. Mr. Jack- 
son had raised six hundred pounds on less than an acre of 
ground, and sold it at nine to ten cents per pound. It is 
planted in March. He thinks, in rich ground, well attended, 
eight hundred pounds can be raised to the acre. It grows to 
the height of two to three feet. The root is tapering, some- 
times growing eight inches long. It comes to its growth in 
five months. Four to six pounds of flour can be obtained 
from a bushel of roots. It can be used for bread or starch. 
Ginger is also raised here. It comes to its growth in eight 
months. It is planted in hills. By good cultivation the yield 
is great. The African ginger is noted for its goodness. Mr. 
Jackson took to the fair at Monrovia, the ginger from one 
hill, that weighed one hundred pounds. He took premiums 
at that fair on arrow root, ginger, eddoes, and tallow can- 
dles, to the amount of $12. He has a fine orchard of coff'ee 
trees. There are many valuable citizens in this township. 
The land is clay mixed with sand, and sufliciently rolling for 
cultivation. In some lots I saw gravel, and in others, the 
appearance of iron ore. The timber of the country was of 
various kinds, and of good growth. The face of the coun- 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 103 

try, and of its soil, was very similar to that about Clay Ash- 
land and Harrisburg, on the St. Paul's river. There were 
also the similar streams of water. The water was soft and 
much better than that at Buchanan. The houses were none 
of them equal in value or size to those on the St. Paul's 
river; but the occupants of those in Bexley showed a better 
class of farmers — though I am sorry to say they did not 
use oxen, or mule, or plow. Once a plow was used, but it 
broke, and was cast out, because the castings could not be 
supplied there. The thermometer at 4 P. M. in the shade, 
was 86°. There are in Bexley two churches, Methodist and 
Baptist, also two day schools, and two Sabbath schools. In 
1844, it had one hundred and thirty-five inhabitants. This 
town has not had any additions by emigrants settling in it, 
since 1845. It holds its own by births. In 1854, there were 
one hundred and ninety inhabitants. They can bring into 
field, when necessary, sixty men. Cannon, and powder, and 
ball, are on hand to be used when needed. But the natives 
have not molested the Liberians in this county since 1851. 
There is a settlement just above Bexley on the same side of 
the river, but it numbers only ten persons. A family consist- 
ing of four persons have gone a mile still higher up, and 
have given the name of Rosamburg to the farm. I returned 
to the ship at 7 P. JVl.. and found that there had been landed 
at Fishtown, sixteen persons from the emigrants remaining 
on the ship, who were destined to this country. Twelve of 
them were adults, and four were under twelve years of age. 
There was no Receptacle in any town in the county, and 
therefore, the Agent of the American Colonization Society, 
at Buchanan, rented vacant houses for them to live in du- 
ring the six months of acclimation. There is a physician in 
the stated employ of the society residing in Upper Buchanan, 
at a salary of $1,000 a year. The provisions landed for these 
emigrants from the ship, for their supply for six months, were 
four barrels of mackerel, four barrels of beef, three barrels of 
pork, ten barrels of flour, three barrels of kiln dried meal, 
one barrel of sugar, one barrel of syrup, one bag of rice, one 
bag of coffee, one box of soap, one box of pepper and mus- 
tard, half chest of tea, one bag of salt, one keg of butter, 
and one barrel of vinegar. A box of dry goods was landed 
to be sold toward defraying expenses. Thermometer at 7 
P. M. was 820. 

January 9. Thermometer at 7 A. M. was 82°. I went on 
shore to visit 

BASSA. 
On my way to see President Benson's farm, I passed the 



104 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

court house. A native Commission Court was in session. 
This court is appointed by the Legislature of the Republic, 
by agreement with the native tribes living within the bound- 
aries of the Republic, to settle all native difficulties that are 
not violations of the laws of Liberia. The settlement of the 
difficulties are on the basis of their native rules, handed 
down by tradition, or agreed upon to be laws in the tribe. 
The court in session was to settle a difficulty between a na- 
tive husband and his native wife. I entered the court room 
as an observer. I found the merits of the case were, the 
wife was not well treated by her husband, and went back to 
her father's house. The father was unwilling to have her 
stay at home, as she had a husband, who had bought her, 
and paid him the money for her, as his wife. The mother 
thought she was sick, and sent her to the Doctor's house (a 
native.) This was done without the consent of the husband, 
and he sent word to her to come home. She would not re- 
turn home, but staid so long as to have a very strong attach- 
ment for the Doctor, presenting him with a child. This con- 
firmed her in the decision she would not return to live with 
her husband. The husband demanded his wife to be given 
up to him. The Doctor refused. And the court was called 
upon to restore to him his rights, according to the customs of 
his fathers. She was on the witness's stand when I went in 
to hear the proceedings. She stated her grievances in the 
language of her people. Her dress was after the style of 
native women. With a strong loud voice, and with gesticu- 
lations that evinced her earnestness, she addressed the court. 
What zeal, what indignation, what clearing of herself, she 
manifested. Her long guttural, sonorous words, expressed 
deep emotions. She did not cast a wishful, nor disdainful 
eye, in all her allusions, on her former liege lord. When she 
paused, and the interpreter told the court in English what 
she had stated — oh, what a contrast ! There was nothing of 
the native wildness. It was English most languidly uttered. 
It was tame. It did not express her feelings. She had em- 
ployed a lawyer to defend her, but he was no Cicero. She 
lost her case. The Judge ordered her to be delivered up to 
her husband, as his property, according to the laws of the 
tribe in such cases, and the Doctor to pay the cost of the 
suit. The husband, being in his native dress, I had an 
opportunity to see the human frame expressing the feel- 
ings of the mind when it was intensely excited. His re- 
venge, his gratification at his success, his joy that he had 
her in his power again, the determination of what he would 
do with her, were all seen in his muscles, and the heaving of 
his stout chest, as they were expressed in his countenance. 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 105 

He was a good subject for a Hogarth. There "were some 
twenty natives sitting by and around the Doctor, in another 
part of the court room — all in silence. Except the rejoicing, 
exulting husband, a thunderbolt striking the building would 
not have caused such momentary stilness among the other 
natives, as was seen, when the decision of the court was 
given. In this silent scene, the wife walked out of the court 
house with a firm decided step. Her eye leered not toward 
husband, or lover, on either side of her way. I rose up, as it 
became me, seeing a woman in trouble, and followed her to 
the door. There on the ground at the door, was her mother, 
and the little one who was one of the causes of the trouble 
of the Othello. When the woman was beyond the charge 
of treating the court with contempt, she opened her mouth. 
There was decision expressed. The gestures told of her wil- 
lingness to have her head cut off, before she would go back 
to her first love. Pardon me, reader, if I have erred in giv- 
ing to you this court scene. I went to Liberia to see things 
there as they are, and to tell you. what I saw that expressed 
customs and character. But you must know her voice drew 
out from the house, all the natives. The husband showed 
that he had seen bursts of feeling before this morning. He 
was so tamed, that he stood still, and opened not his mouth. 
She walked off with a step that showed a resolute purpose 
of mind, leaving the child with its grand-mother. None 
seemed willing or bold enough to follow her, and I took my 
way to the President's farm. I had to take a long walk, be- 
cause a swamp and marsh prevented me from going direct 
along the street in the low^er part of the town to his house, 
that would otherwise have lead to it. The farm has its 
greatest interest in the fact that it is the largest coffee farm 
in Liberia. It is estimated there are over ten thousand cof- 
fee trees on the farm. Perhaps not more than fifteen hun- 
dred are good bearing trees. The trees looked healthy, the 
orchard was clean of grass and weeds, and the sand was 
white, with a very slight appearance of mold. The coffee 
looked well, and the kernels fine and large. Children were 
hired to pick the coffee from the trees. The gentleman who 
had charge of the farm, was very polite and attentive in 
showing us the grounds. He found it difficult in getting a 
clean pick of the coffee from the trees. He showed to us 
the mill used to separate the shell from the coffee. It was 
similar to a fanning mill, except the fans were taken out, and 
a cylinder, eight inches in diameter, covered with a piece of 
tin punctured like unto a grater, was in their place. In front 
was an inclined board, with a similar piece of punctured 
tin, which inclination was so brought down as to leave a 



106 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 



space large enough for the coffee to pass through rasped, if 
I may so term it, out of the shell. It served a good purpose, 
but left particles of the shell on the husk of the coffee, in 
proportion to their dryness when thrown into the hopper. 
For the coffee is covered with a thin membrane as it lies in 
the cavit}' of the hull. Since my return to the United States, 
I have been endeavoring to find some better method to sep- 
arate the coffee from the hull, and have it sent to Liberia. 
There is much waste of coffee that comes to maturity in Li- 
beria. If all was gathered that ripens, there would be many 
more "baskets full" picked than are now gathered. There is 
a very fine palm tree hedge around ihis coffee orchard. The 
President's house is passing away, and he is putting up an- 
other and more substantial building. But like many political 
men in our land, his own private interests are much neglect- 
ed, while he has the care of all the state on his hands, as all 
politicians think. He makes use of rain water kept in a cis- 
tern to drink, but I did not think it preferable to the well wa- 
ter in Buchanan. This farm is within the corporate limits of 
the town. It was occupied as a farm before the town was 
laid out. When it was laid out it embraced the farm. There 
was in front of the house, a mangrove swamp on the banks 
of the St. John's river; and between his yard, and the streets 
of Buchanan, was a marsh that could be passed only by 
caAoe or boat when the tide was up. I had to return by the 
long winding way that I had come to get to the river's bank 
to cross over to Edina, by reason of the marsh referred to. 
And fair reader, for I believe some lady who has turned her 
mind to Liberia, as the future home of her servants, will read 
my report, would you have believed it, when I got down to 
the St. John's river, there was the native distressed wife, shall 
I call her, in charge of the constable. She had made her way 
to the river, determined to drown herself Her husband was 
following, a long way off, not to see the distressing tragical 
event, and the Doctor and his party were near by, speaking 
loudly and fiercely their opinions, in a tongue unknown to 
me. Are all matches, or sales of girls for wives, made in 
heaven? I crossed over the St. John's river to 

EDINA. 

It is built on the south-east bank of the river Mecklin. A 
point of land commences at the south-eastern end of the 
town, and runs nearly a mile, where its point forms the bank 
at the mouth of the river St. John's. This place was first 
settled in 1833, by thirty-two men, who came from Monrovia 
to prepare the way for a settlement by those who were ex- 
pected from the United States. When these thirty-two men 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 107 

had prepared houses for their families, their families came 
to them from Monrovia. The whole number in the thirty- 
two families, was one hundred. In a short time five of the 
families moved to Cape Palmas Colony. Up to 1844, it had 
received additions to its population, which numbered in that 
year, two hundred and two. This town was laid out three 
miles square — a part of it in town lots of one-fourth of an 
acre, and the other part of it in farm lots of two to ten acres. 
Edina has tw^o swamps and two marshes which cannot be 
drained and made tillable land. These swamps and marshes 
are in the heart of the town plot. I drank of a spring of 
living water. It is soft and similar in taste to that across 
the river in Buchanan, Water is obtained by digging ten 
to fifteen feet, when clay is found. A store is opening this 
day in this town. The inhabitants do their trading in Buch- 
anan. There are several good framed houses in the town, 
and one of them had a lime hedge as its front yard fence. 
It was put out on the same plan and distance as an osage 
orange hedge is put out in Kentucky. It had been trimed to 
the height of four feet, and become so thick a hedge that 
neither fowl nor pig could go through it. Whether the hedge 
will bear limes, time must tell. It had not yet borne any. 
Twenty-five farming lots have been taken up, and many 
living in the town, cultivate a few acres on their farm lots. 
The usual productions of Liberia are raised here. Coffee 
has received the attention of many persons. Many of the 
inhabitants expressed to me their fears that they should have 
no more emigrations from the United States to settle in their 
township. 1 eannot tell about that. But I learned, from un- 
questionable authority, that seven wives in this town, pre- 
sented their delighted husbands, each, with two children at the 
birth — making in all, fourteen children. I am in doubt whether 
shall have seven readers who will say such an event took 
place in our house the same 3^ear. There are Methodists 
and Baptist churches in this town, and also day and Sabbath 
schools. I learned that seven native children were in the 
day schools. I dined with the Rev. Mr. Cheeseman, a Bap- 
tist Minister, and a Judge of the Court of Quarter Sessions. 
He has been a Senator from this county. His library is a 
good collection of three hundred books on divinity, law, and 
miscellaneous subjects. We had for dinner fresh fish, bacon, 
chickens, and the usual vegetables of the land. When leav- 
ing his house, I saw in his yard a native, with a very strong 
good cutlass in his hand. Mr. Cheeseman told me the man had 
made it himself. He worked at the blacksmith's trade. He 
was a christian convert, spoke broken English, and was cov- 
ered in his person by a large toga thrown over him, leaving 



08 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

one arm bare. The people of this town have cattle, goats, 
sheep and hogs, which were running at large. There are no 
oxen. The plow and cart are not to be seen here. 

Farmarsetta is a part of this township, commencing at the 
junction of the rivers Mecklin and St. John's, on the south- 
west, running in a northerly direction along the St. John's 
river, to the boundary lineof Bexley township, and then runs 
back from the river two miles in a south-westerly course to 
the Mecklin river, thus forming a triangle of land. The land 
is laid out in farm lots. Ten families have drawn farms 
here. There is a day school taught in the settlement, and a 
Methodist church is organized there. There is a part of this 
settlement on the St. John's river that is low ground. It is 
overflowed in the month of September, when the river rises 
by the rains. For three or four days some of the farms are 
overflowed in part. I should judge from what I saw of Ed- 
ina, that it was a more healthy location than that of Bassa. 
And as the palm trade is mostly from up the waters of the 
Mecklin, I should think that the trade would centre 
here. It is true, as commerce now stands, it is more conve- 
nient and less expensive to land goods from ships on the 
beach at Bassa, but I query whether goods might not be 
landed noi'th of the bar for Edina, on the beach abreast of 
the town, as cheap. 

I returned by water to Bassa, and landed at the point 
made by the Benson river entering the St, John's river, 
where the old Government House stood. The Government 
House is gone by reason of age. The point of land is two 
hundred and fifty yards wide, and about four hundred yards 
long. There are some laj'ge noble looking trees standing on 
one side of this point of land. Beneath these trees lies bu- 
ried. Gov. Buchanan. He died here from the efl'ects of the 
African fever, in 1841. He was an active, brave, and untir- 
ing friend of Liberia. I regret to say that the blocks of 
stone which the American Colonization Society sent out to 
be erected over his grave as a monument, expressing its es- 
timation of his worth, lie scattered around his grave as they 
were landed. I met William T. Smith in Buchanan. He 
was from Lexington, Kentucky, and had been a waiter in 
the Phooenix Hotel in that place. He resides in this town, 
has thirty-fivs acres of land, and expressed himself satisfied 
with living in this country. He could leave it if he chose to 
do so, as he had means at his command. I returned to the 
ship, and learned from the Captain, that he should leave to- 
night for Greenville, farther down on the coast, but should 
stop at Bassa on his return from Cape Palmas, and I could 
then finish my examinations of this county. Thermometer 



LIBERIA, AS I FUUND IT. 109 

at 7 P. M. 82°. At 8 P. M. we weighed anchor and struck 
sail for Greenville. 

January 10. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 81°. This day be- 
ing the Sabbath, I preached on board of the ship at 11 A. M. 
We were sailing with light winds, but with a lavorable cur- 
rent. We passed the river Cestos, commonly called Kiver- 
cess. It is in 5^ 27' north lat., and 9° 25' west long. It is 
tbrt3'-one miles from Bassa. It takes its name from the tribe 
of natives who live on its banks. 1 am told by a gentleman, 
who is well acquainted with this coast, that the river Cestos 
has tifteen feet of water on its bar at high water, and that a 
vessel of one hundred tons can safely cross it. The natives 
up this river bring down palm oil and other African articles 
of export to sell to traders at the mouth of the river. A Li- 
berian trader lives at its mouth, who trades for himself. A 
few other Liberians live here and trade for Americans, Ger- 
mans, and English. This place may become a very impor- 
tant settlement at a future day. When that day shall come, 
it is very desirable that health should be regarded in the se- 
lection of it. And instead of scattering small clusters of 
people up the river, there should be selected a point that is 
healthy, with good water, and a plenty of land for a large 
settlement. And when an increase of numbers requirer still 
another place to be settled, let the same course be pursued 
for the location. This river is in Bassa county. We passed 
in sight of what is called the Devil's Rock, and the tops of 
six other rocks were observable. They were sufficiently 
high lo announce to the mariner that it was dangerous to 
be in their midst when the "winds blew," though the coast 
chart said the water was deep around them. The "Devil's 
Rock," 1 should judge from our position, was fifty feet high, 
and seven hundred feet in circumference, just above the wa- 
ter's edge. It showed the ridges on its sides, which all ex- 
posed rocks have in this latitude, whether standing high out 
of the sea, or raising their heads high up on land. A few 
miles below this rock is the Sangwin river, the boundary line 
between the counties of Bassa and Sinoe. Sangwin river is 
fifty-nine miles from the Cestos river, and is twenty-three 
miles from Greenville, the County Seat of Sinoe county. 
Sinoe county commences at the south-east bank of the San- 
gwin river, and runs down the sea coast to the south-east 
banks of Grand Sesters river, it is seventy-six miles long, 
and averages forty miles in width. Their are eight native 
trading towns within the bounds of this county, above and 
below Greenville, at which Liberians, Germans, Americans, 
English, and French trade more or less. Most generally the 
foreigners employ a native, to go back and trade off the 



110 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

goods put in his charge, for oil, camwood, ivory. &c. A few 
miles below Sangwin river, is Baffou Bay. This Bay, I am 
told, is not a large inlet of water from the sea. And from 
the rocks plainly to be seen near to its entrance, I judged it 
would not always be a safe retreat for vessels in the time of 
a storm of wind blowing on to the shore. It is a bold shore — 
but the reef of rocks for miles above and below it, give not 
a wide birth even to vessels lying at anchor in its waters. 
Soon the coast commenced making a gradual bend, until it 
furnished a cove for a town, while it also afforded a good 
roadstead for vessels to anchor in seven fathoms of water a 
mile from the shore. And here we anchored, for he had ar- 
rived at 

GREENVILLE. 

The town was built a quarter of a mile back from the sea 
beach. The night closed in upon us with calculations for 
to-morrow's work. Thermometer at 7 P. M. 81°. 

January 11. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 82o. I went on 
shore to see Greenville. This portion of Liberia was the pur- 
chase of the Mississippi and Louisiana Colonization Socie- 
ties. The sea coast runs down south-east three-fourths of 
mile past the town to a point making the west bank ot the 
Sinoe river. A large flat rock, some six feet above tide wa- 
ter, stands so far over toward this shore, outside of the bar ot 
the river, that the entrance over its bar has to be made on the 
eastern side of the river, where a point of rocks called the 
Blue Barr€ point, comes down abruptly to the river. This 
bar has six feet of water on it at high tide. Crossing the bar, 
you keep on the eastern shore side, following the channel in 
its curve of nearly a half circle, when you bear off for the 
western bank of the river, on which Greenville stands, with 
its main streets running east and west. It is three-fourths of 
a mile from the bar to the chief landing place. On this wa- 
ter passage, three large mounts, sufficiently separated at their 
base to make their formations distinct of each other, stand on 
the Blue Barre side of the river, giving grandeur to the 
scenery. They rise in a sugar loaf form, one hundred and 
fifty feet, with soil sufficient to clothe the trees on two sides 
of them with full foliage; while on the other side that is seen, 
is the bare rock. The Sinoe river comes from the interior 
some distance, having a south-west course to the sea. It is 
navigable from the bar for eighteen miles to its falls, having 
from eighteen to twenty feet of water in its channel. It re- 
ceives on its course to the Atlantic, several creeks on both 
sides of its banks. Greenville was first settled in 1836, by 
thirty-six colonists who came from Monrovia. Their object 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. Ill 



was to prepare the way for emigrants to settle here who 
were to come direct from the United States. In 1838, 
twenty of the thirty-six returned to Monrovia — the balance 
remained at Greenville. In that year, three free-born blacks, 
and thirty-four slaves, emancipated by the will of Mr. An- 
ketell, of Mississippi, settled here. In 1844, the population 
of Greenville was seventy-nine, having had additions from 
other settlements. From 1844 to 1855, emigrants have set- 
tled in Greenville, and in different places back from the sea 
coast. Since 1855, no emigrants from the United States have 
settled in this county. 

Greenville is an incorporated city, nearly a mile square, 
covering about five hundred acres of land. Except three lota 
of eight, nine, and eleven acres, the balance of the land ia 
divided off into twelve hundred and fourteen lots of one- 
fourth of an acre each. Many of these lots were vacant 
because thej^ belonged to minor heirs — others had not found 
a market while some had been bought by citizens who did 
not wish to improve them. The streets are kept clean by 
the standing ordinance requiring such work to be done. The 
improved lots have, according to the taste of the owners, 
planted on them the variety of tropical fruits in Liberia, in- 
terspersed with coffee trees. The houses on the whole, are 
good comfortable dwellings; some of them were worth from 
$150 to $3,500, while others did not cost more than $45. I 
judged, that within the corporate limits of the town, there 
are one hundred and thirty acres of swamp and marshy land, 
which throws it into three separate divisions. Cause-ways 
ot different widths are made to connect these divisions. There 
being no draft animals in the town, no great inconvenience 
is found by the people in going across these swamps on foot- 
bridges, or narrow cause-ways to different parts of the town. 
The laws of Liberia allow^ the taxes for license to sell as 
traders or auctioneers in a town or county to be used for 
town and county purposes, as in making bridges, roads, &c. 
This place is a Port of Entry, and has a Collector's office. It 
has a court house, a jail, and the different public offices of 
the county. The Agent of the American Colonization Society 
resides herci. The mayor of the city must be a citizen worth 
in real estate, $150 — a common councilman must be worth 
$50 in real estate, and a voter must own real estate in the 
town to vote. I dined with a merchant who emigrated from 
Savannah. I had for dinner soup, roast chickens, palm but- 
ter, roast beef, rice, sweet potatoes, and cassada, with Lon- 
don ale, which, by-the-by, is kept for sale in all the stores in 
Liberia. It will be understood that there ia a line of steam- 



112 LIBERlAj AS I FOUND IT. 

ers running from Liverpool to Lagos, starting from each 
extreme point so as to stop at Monrovia on the 15th day of 
each month, going and coming. Ail the lettej-s in Liberia 
intended for the United States by this line by the way of 
England, are sent to Monrovia to be mailed. This line of 
steamers gives the Liberians an opportunity to order London 
ale and other condiments. There are six stores in Green- 
ville. There is no store in other towns in the county. Be- 
tween the town and the sea beach, there is no vegetation to 
be seen. It is a body of sand. 1 was very often reminded 
along the shore of similar strips of sand reaching bacit from 
the sea in Princess Ann county in Virginia. Whether the 
Atlantic has retired in any measure in her breadth, from the 
indications ot sand on its eastern and western banks, 1 can- 
not tell, but sure 1 am, the sand may as well be in the 
depths of the water, as to be "high and dry" on either side 
of her shores for some distance back, as to growth of vege- 
tation. The Captain was desirous to go on to Cape Palmas, 
and would have to stop here on his return, 1 therefore di- 
rected my steps to the river, and took the boat for the ship. 
The wind was rising, and was strong, but it was ahead wind 
for our ship. The thermometer was at 7 P. M., 80°. 

January 12. The wind still ahead. It was very cold du- 
ring the night to our outward man, which had been often 
called to bear much, when a sheet was over it, especially 
about 1 o'clock A. M. The thermometer at 7 A. M. was76o. 
We were at sea, because "the winds were contrary." At 
'Z P. M. the thermometer was at 80° in the cabin. VVe tack- 
ed ship to run in for the coast. A dark night, a hazy atmos- 
phere, and no bottom answering to a twenty-live fathom line, 
told us the shore was not at hand, and the helm obeyed the 
order of the Captain to stand out to sea again. 1 turned to 
go to my room to sleep. Patience is tried on the sea as well 
as on the land. 

January 13. Early this morning, the broad sea, and the 
heavens, filled our vision. There was "the light in the fir- 
mament of the heaven that had just divided the day from 
the night;" and on every side of us were the waters that 
bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life." 
God saw that all was good — while we, because Cape Palmas 
was not in sight, thought the wind ought to -'chop round" to 
take us right on our way. Thermometer in the cabin at 7 A. 
M. 80°. We soon tacked ship, and steered for where Cape 
Palmas could be found. At 12 noon, the thermometer was at 
82°. Soon the cry M^as heard, land ahoy ! Land indeed 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 113 

was in sight. It kept constantly looming up, until it was dis- 
tinctly seen to be 

CAPE PALMAS. 

Its church spires, the light house, and the female high 
school, on the point of the Cape, threw a charm over our 
feelings that made the whole scenery very pleasant to be- 
hold. At 2 P. M. the ship dropped her anchor abreast of the 
cape in seven fathoms of water, a mile and a half from the 
landing of the town of Harper. We were now two hundred 
and ninety miles from Monrovia, and eighty-six from Green- 
ville. This had been a Colony commenced and "cared for" 
by the Maryland State Colonization Society. In 1850, it 
asked of that Society permission to become an Independent 
Republic. The request was granted, and it declared itself 
to be the Commonwealth of Maryland, of course, in Africa. 
It did not remain long in this distinct civil organization. In 
1856 it had to ask aid in money and men of Liberia to de- 
fend their homes irom the attacks of the natives. The as- 
sistance was granted by the prompt offer of the money aid 
by Dr. James Hall, the General Agent of the Maryland So- 
ciety, who was then at Monrovia. Peace was soon restored, 
and the people of Maryland, in Africa, voted to ask the Li- 
berian Government to receive the state as a county of Libe- 
ria — the state dissolving its state existence. The Legisla- 
ture of Liberia met at the call of the President of Liberia, 
and granted the petition, and it is now Maryland county in 
Liberia. The county begins at the south-east bank of Grand 
Sesters river, and ruas down on the sea coast to the eastern 
line of Grand Taboo, or the line formed by the river San Pe- 
dro on the east, being one hundred and three miles long, and 
averaging thirty miles in width. Cape Palmas, or rather 
Harper, has a safe roadstead. But the rocks that the surf is 
constantly breaking over near to the shore, show that ves- 
sels, in order to have room to get out to sea, should anchor a 
mile or a mile and a half from the town. On the south side 
of the cape is an Island called Dead Man's Island. It is 
one-fourth of a mile from the main land, about three hun- 
dred feet long, one hundred feet wide, and fifteen feet above 
the water. It is composed of sand stone. Over some parts 
of it the sea throws its spray when it strikes its side. The 
natives have been in the habit of burying their dead on this 
Island. Their practice was, I was told, to wrap the dead; 
body in a cloth, and take it to the Island. A box or broken, 
canoe was placed over the body, and both canoe and body 
were left to return to dust. This practice is now forbidden 

8 



114 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

by the Liberians so far as to burying their dead on the 
Island. 

The cape is in 4° 22' north lat. and 7° 44' west long*. It 
is a point of land extending for a mile into the sea. It may 
be said to take its rise so far back as to take in Latrobe. It 
falls off with a ragged descent into the sea, of sixty-five 
feet. A light house of forty feet height stands near to its 
brow, with a large two story framed building near to it, own- 
ed and used by the Episcopal Foreign Missionary Society of 
the United States, for a Female Orphan School. The light 
of the light house can be seen in a clear night, eighteen 
miles, at sea. Cape Palmas river empties into the sea on 
the north side of Harper. It has a bar making over from its 
north bank so far towards its south bank, that a very nar- 
row passage is left for boats to pass from the sea into the river. 
A vessel of thirty tons may pass through this channel at 
high tide. After passing this bar, the river is navi- 
gable for boats for five miles, and then canoes have to be 
used. The trade down the river is comparatively nothing. 

I went on shore at 4 P. M. to see 

HARPER. 

This is a small town. On the bank of the river, there are 
■four stores, kept in four stone ware houses. There is no 
road to ascend the hill on which the dwelling houses are 
built. The ways of ascent of the hill are by foot paths 
leading from each store. And I could keep my balance bet- 
ter in going up those paths than in coming down. It is the 
same in going down to two springs of water on the north 
side, or to the spring on the south side of the hill. One of 
the springs never goes dry, and furnishes a great part of the 
town with water for domestic and drinking purposes. The 
best spring is well protected from the sun's rays by a shelv- 
ing rock. There is a well of eighteen feet depth near to one 
of the stores, that has water in it nearly all the year round. 
The water in the springs and well was soft and good, par- 
ticularly the spring water. There is but one street in Har- 
per, on which are built twenty -three houses. Two stores are 
kept on the hill. There are seventy-nine lots laid off on the 
,plot of the town. But the ground is not wide enough to 
have but one tier of lots on each side of the sti'eet. The 
land may average two hundred feet wide before it broke off 
suddenly so as not to allow generally a garden spot of much 
depth to most of the lots that are improved. A lot contains 
one-eighth of an acre. Harper is a port of entry, and has a 
collector's office. A superintendent lives here, whose busi- 
jiess it is to examine all public accounts against the Repub- 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 115 

lie, and report thereon to the Secretary of the Treasury at 
Monrovia. His salary is $200 a year. The private build- 
ings in this town do not show as much for the business of the 
place as those in other towns that I have been in on the coast. 
There are two houses being furnished that will be an orna- 
ment to the town in comparison to its present dwellings. 
The houses may be estimated from $45 to $1,500. I think 
the business of the place will not justify at present at least 
very expensive houses; for a wise man will build at a price 
he may get back when he sells it, baring wear and tear. I 
saw cattle, goats, sheep and swine feeding on ground lying 
out tQ the commons. 1 also saw a mare belonging to the 
Kev. Mr. Hoffman, an Episcopal Missionary living in this 
town. She svas broke to the saddle and harness, and was 
with foal. I measured her, and found that she was five feet 
six inches high, and six feet one inch from her ears to her 
tail. She cost, second handed, $100 — was first obtained 
back of Mesurada county of the natives. This town will 
never be large, because of its confined limits, and the vi- 
cinit}^ of Latrobe, that has as good a landing spot for the 
same class of craft as this town has, and from the narrow 
strip of country lying on each side of an avenue leading out 
into the country for four or five miles. I returned to the ship, 
saying to myself, how different does Harper appear when on 
its street, from what it did this morning at sea. Thermom- 
eter at 7 P. M. in the cabin, 78°. 

January 14. Thermometer on the deck of the ship at 6 A. 
M. 72°. I went on shore to go back into the country. The 
land back from Harper may be described as slightly rolling 
land, with difl^erent swales in breadth, having Shepherd's 
Lake on the south and low grounds on the north; the hills 
varying in height, as Jackson's hill, Mt. Vaughn, and Tubman 
hill. The two latter hills are about the heigth of Cape Pal- 
mas hill. In leaving Harper, there is a slight descent, to 
ascend a similar hill in heighth. but more rounding, and with 
a broader surface on its top, and a greater smoothness down 
its sides. Here did stand a native town of the Cape Palmas 
tribe, that covered the top of the hill with its thatched houses. 
Now it is truly a barren hill top, with its natural poor soil, 
burnt to entire barrenness. Passing down this hill toward 
Latrobe, there is a slight descent to the small rise of land on 
which Latrobe stands. On this ascent, adjoining Latrobe, 
another native town stood. The tribe owned the land on 
which their town stood. They have alwa^'s positively refused 
to sell out, or give the land to the Liberians. It was unfor- 
tunate that the native towns lay between Latrobe and Har- 
per; for all passing from one town to the other was through 



, ^ 



116 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

these towns, by day and by night. The consequence was, 
the Liberians had the same feelings that Ahab had to pos- 
sess Naboth's vineyard. A war was brought about, and the 
native towns were burnt down in 185G. The natives fled, and 
the Liberians took possession of the ground. It was dearly 
paid for in the expenses of the war, in deprivations, in losses of 
propert3^ and lives. This war will stand as proof to future 
generations, that the Liberians, at least up to 1856-7, had 
not been assiduously pursuing a systematic course of moral, 
civil and kind means to bring the two branches of the house- 
hold together in due time, as one social political and chris- 
tian body, on one common soil. On the hill is mounted three 
cannon, with their muzzles pointing to the new towns the 
natives have built across the river, within the full range of 
their ball. In the swale of land between this hill and La- 
trobe, there is a fine spot for salt works by evaporation. The 
gea water on the south side can be pumped out of the At- 
lantic by a wind mill or by steam power, and salt be made 
to any quantity. The land taken from the natives in this 
swale, and on the ascent to Latrobe, has been surveyed ofl 
in town lots of one-eighth of an acre, and put into market. 
At the first public sale, lots sold for $16 to $60 a piece. The 
minimum price is f 15 a lot. The business done in Harper 
or Latrobe, nor the difficulty in getting land for dwelling 
houses in either place, nor the wealth of the people, do not 
justify such prices for lots. It is to be greatly regreted that 
the call of the natives for peace was unheeded. And it is 
still more a subject of regret that this tribe had evidence in 
their sight that the Liberians had incited a neighboring un- 
friendly tribe to come out against them, thus keeping up a 
native war, or an unfriendly feeling among the different 
tribes. Liitrobe is built chiefly on the Maryland avenue that 
runs through the town. There are two back streets and a 
few cross streets. Two hundred and fifty-six town lots, of 
an eighth of an acre, have been laid out. I counted fifty 
dwelling houses in the town. There are two stores, a 
blacksmith, and several carpenters and masons. The Metho- 
dist and Episcopal churches arc fine stone buildings, with a 
school house of stone adjoining. The Methodist school is 
for girls. The Baptist church was burnt down during the 
war. The dwelling houses of Latrobe have nothing very 
attractive in their appearance. The water in this town is 
from wells. It is soft and good. The shipping on the coast 
generally get water here from two wells, paying 20 to 25 
cents per hogshead at the wells. Our naval vessels, when 
they get the water, pay half a cent per gallon, because at 
other ports they pa}^ that price. I allude to this to show the 
estimation that foreigners put upon the water. The soil of 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 117 

Latrobe, like that of Harper, is clay. What was growing on 
their town lots showed by its size and growth, that the land 
needed rest or manure. In Latrobe the Receptacle building, 
one story high, was divided off into fourteen rooms. It was 
built in days gone by, and needs repairing; and then it 
might be a question for discussion whether it would not be 
best to put up a new building. There is a Doctor's office 
hard by the Receptacle. The physician who lives here is a 
much respected doctor, both by seafaring men who stop here 
for medical aid, as well as by the citizens of this county. All 
the rooms but two in the Receptacle are occupied by colo- 
nists who have been burnt out of house and home in the last 
war. I saw cattle, sheep, goats and swine in the streets. 
Latrobe has a landing place on the Palmas river, which its 
inhabitants, and those in the interior, find convenient in re- 
ceiving their lumber and other articles of merchandise. I 
saw a fine yoke of cattle drawing, on the fore wheels of a 
cart, lumber intended for the erection of a mission house and 
boarding school of the Episcopal Mission on Mt. Vaughn, in 
the place of the buildings destroyed by fire in the late war. 
The price of a load is 75 cents. The distance to the Mount 
is three miles. I understood from the owners that there were 
three other yoke of cattle in the county, and four bullocks 
that had been broke to the harness to work singly to a horse 
cart. The price of a yoke of cattle was $30 to $35. On 
leaving Latrobe, the farming countjy commences. The land 
had been laid out in five acre lots, the number of acres al- 
lowed to a family by the laws of the colony when under the 
control of the Maryland Colonization Society. The county 
surveyor, in laying before me the surveys of the town and 
farm lots, informed me that one-fourth, at least, of the five 
acre lots had been lessened in size by the sale of one to three 
acres by the owners to other colonists. One thousand nine 
hundred and eighty-five acres had been laid off in the coun- 
ty. The farm lots had been laid off* as they had been called 
for by emigrants. By reason of the recent connection of this 
colony to Liberia proper, the farm lands will hereafter be di- 
vided off to new emigrants according to the laws of Liberia. 
Already ten ten-acre lots have been laid off for new set- 
tlers. Shepherd's lake commences on the south of Latrobe, 
and runs easterly eight miles, with an average breadth of 
one-fourth of a mile. The water at Latrobe, in the lake, is 
brackish. In the time of the rains, it rises so high as to force its 
way through the sand that blocks up its entranae into the At- 
lantic ocean during the dry season. But during the follow- 
ing dry season, its passage way is again stopped up by sand 
by the beating of the surf of the sea. It is on this lake the 



118 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

Liberians of this county suffered their greatest loss of men 
in the recent war with the Pahnas tribe. A number of ihe 
citizens were in a canoe on this lake, with a small mounted 
cannon, in order to fire on the natives concealed on the land. 
When the cannon was fired, it rebounded and split the ca- 
noe. It filled with water, and twenty-six men were drowned. 
Except this loss, not a Liberian was killed in the war: nur is 
there uncontradicted testimony that a native was killed in 
the war. In my route, I saw that much destruction bad been 
done to a row of fine palm trees on the side of the avenue. 
It was judged best to cut many of the trees down in the time 
of the war, as many natives would conceal themselves be- 
hind them, and fire on the colonists. The possibility that they 
might be killed by such marksmen, led to the order to cut them 
down. In my walk I saw the plantain, the tamerind tree, 
the cocoa-nut tree, the mango plum tree, and the physic tree. 
A physic tree that 1 measured was eighteen inches in cir- 
cumference. It was eight to ten inches high. Its fruit is of 
the size of a lime, and is boiled and used by some as a sub- 
stitute for calomel. The objection that was made here to 
use it as a fence, was that so many sprouts put out from the 
spreading roots that it was too troublesome to keep them 
down. The land widens in breadth as you proceed east, 
embracing wet ground, that has to be ditched to hav,e a dry 
road through it — then land that is very sandy — then land that 
is clay, and then land that is a black loam, with gravel some 
eighteen to twenty inches deep. I saw on what is called the 
Government farm, of about thirty acres, where a half acre 
of American corn had been raised. The whole work had 
been done with the hoe. I found a few ears on the stalks. 
It was like, in size and kind, to that I had found on the St. 
Paul's river. Of course the yield would not test what quan- 
tity could have been raised on this half acre of ground, pro- 
perly manured and cultivated. The owner of the corn told 
me he had sold roasting ears for 25 cents per dozen, and 
when harvested, a bushel for 75 cents. 

I dined with the Rev. C. C. Hoffman, a white man, and a 
missionary of the Episcopal Missions to Africa. He resided 
at the female orphan school, and was its superintendent. 
The scholars in the school had been taught by colored teach- 
ers. But during the last six weeks two white females had 
arrived from New York, sent by the Board of Missions, to teach 
in the school. The school has twenty-seven scholars from 
eight to sixteen years of age. They are children of deceased 
colonists or of poor widows. They are taught to sew two 
afternoons in each week, and to do most of the housework; 
but not to intefere with their study hours. They are taught 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 119 

the usual branches of common school education. I passed 
through the different departments of the house, and was much 
gratified with the order, and cleanliness and economical ar- 
rangements of each. There was much evidence in the im- 
provements to save labor about the house, that Northern 
people in our land generally show in their dwellings. Chil- 
dren who can pay for all the benefits of the school and board, 
are charged $75 a year. The children looked healthy. Mr. 
HufTman preaches in Latrobe on Sabbath morning, and at 
some native town, through an interpreter, in the afternoon. 
Our dinner was palm butter, (having chicken cut up in it) 
and roast chicken, with the usual vegetables. After dinner 
we A^'^ent to visit the arrangements of the Episcopal Mission- 
ary Society for the natives of the Cape Palmas tribe. There 
are four towns within the half circle of two miles. In the 
four towns may be 3,000 souls. King Yellow Will lives in 
one of the towns. The other towns had head-men living in 
them. We found the King seated on a stool, with four or 
^ye youths, from 15 to 20 years of age, playing one of their 
games of putting small stones, like unto marbles as to size 
and shape, in different holes. He was much afflicted with 
leprosy. He was a large, stout framed man; spoke English 
well, and was clothed as his fathers clothed themselves. He 
had a number of wives, as many men in his tribe likewise 
had. Very few of the people had on clothing. Here and 
there a man had a sheet, like as to size and form, wrapped 
around his person. They have a large range of land for 
somemiles around their towns. All of it is uninclosed. The 
land is level. Some of it, in the dry season, needs ditching 
to cultivate it. Other parts of it is dry; while a great body 
of it is too wet for cultivation in the wet season. Their towns 
are built on a rise of land some ten or fifteen feet above the 
surrounding land, which furnishes them with a dry spot to 
live on. The women were getting the rice cleaned for the 
supper of the men, when they returned from the fields they 
were preparing to sow rice in. Their fields are sowed for 
each town in commons. Rice was selling at this time at $1 
per bushel. I saw brass kettles, and different kinds of iron ves- 
sels, in use among the people. Several of these people pro- 
fessed Christianity. A large church was being put up for 
their accommodation, between two of the towns. And not far 
from it is the school-house for their children. There are 27 
native male children in the school. They are taught the 
common branches of education in English. They spelt and 
read well. In questioning them as to who made them? 
Where is God? When does God see you? What does God 
know? and the like questions, their anwers were prompt and 



120 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

correct. They repeated the Lord's prayer correctly, and sung 
a hymn in their native language, carrying two parts. I most 
heartily commend them to the blessing of God, for their own 
blessedness of Him, and their usefulness to their fathers. I 
returned to the ship. Thermometer at 7 P. M. 80°. 

January 15. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 76°. There is a 
most sensible change in the weather. I went on shore to 
make further examinations of the interior settlements. Pass- 
ing Latrobe, and the flat land beyond it, we came to a small 
rise of ground where the courthouse and jail, and two indif- 
ferent buildings, were erected. It certainly was a retired 
place to administer justice in. From the 1st of May, 1857, 
to January 1st, 1858, there have been trials of two cases of 
petit larceny, two for assault and battery, and one case for 
swindling. All were colonists. Jacksonville is a settlement 
of tw^enty-six dwellings. They w^ere farmers chiefly. They 
had wet and dry land around their town. Three-fourths of a 
mile to the right, toward the sea, there was another settle- 
ment, called Beach Street, or Holmes' Road. Those people 
were on farming land. During the w^ar, tw^enty-one of their 
houses were burnt to the ground. Mt. Vaughn stands off to 
the left of Jacksonville some half a mile. On its summit the 
buildings of the Episcopal Mission are now building, and will 
look well to the passer-by. The lumber for the buildings was 
sent trom the city of New York. The calculations for schol- 
ars are for a dense population in this region before the build- 
ings shall decay. I hope it will not be said of this adven- 
ture, "Ye have sown much, but have reaped little." If the 
plan is to bring native children from the towns, and keep 
them from their parents until educated, it is a policy, in my 
judgment, that had better be postponed until it is found that 
a mission station established "hard by" their towns, to 
bring males and females, parents and children, together in 
the house of God; and the children, male and female, into 
day schools, is a sure failm^e in directly operating upon them 
for their instruction and elevation. Still farther on is Tub- 
man town and Tubman hill. This hill took its name from the 
gentleman who died in Georgia some 21 years ago, di- 
recting by his will that eighty of his slaves should be sentto 
Liberia. They settled here, and called their settlement after 
his name. A few of their houses were burnt in the last war. 
This is the family that is spoken of in different parts of Ken- 
tucky as having been in a starving condition, and as they had 
ceased to write asking for food, it was judged they must all 
of them now be dead. They met me at two of their dwell- 
ings, at my request sent to them yesterday for that purpose. 
They have twenty-nine dwellings. They are four and a half 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 121 

miles from Harper. I took down the names of the living, 
and of their children, in my memorandum book. The origi- 
nal stock living here, with their posterity, numbered sixty 
souls. Five of the eighty who came from Georgia were from 
50 to 75 years old when they landed here in 1837. One died 
on the voyage, two died in the acclimation, and since their 
residence here, twenty-two over twenty-one years of age 
have died. They were well fitted out when they left Geor- 
gia, and have at various times been furnished by Mrs. Tub- 
man with money and provisions. And my opinion is, she 
gave to them too much at a time for the benefit of their in- 
dustry. They spoke very highly of their old mistress, as they 
styled her, and expressed desires to see her again. They 
were contented, were well clad, and were much respected by 
their neighboi-s. One of their number taught a native school, 
near to a native town, of eighteen scholars, under the care 
of the Methodist Mission. In this settlement I found one 
farm had 2,000 coffee trees; another 500; while some persons 
had planted out but four or five trees. A half mile from 
Tubman town, was New Georgia, a new settlement that had 
been commenced some three years ago, under the ten acre 
law. In the war, all their houses were burnt down. But 
the smoke I saw rising from their lands, while I was standing 
on Tubman hill, showed that they were preparing to re-settle 
their land. 

Here I closed my walk. I have brought before the reader 
all the settlements in the Maryland county. Their condition 
I have aimed to describe with all honesty of mind. It can- 
not be doubted that the war has not only been a w^^ong war, 
but that it has made sad changes in the appearance of the 
country, as to a full show of its productions; while it has 
brought great losses on many settlers, and driven them off of 
their lands to live as they could. Many of them had nothing 
laid up to meet such trials as they were now daily passing 
through. But the hand of friendship and charity was opened 
by those who had wherewithal to help them. The churches 
give their communion collections for the benefit of their 
needy; while private aid, in various forms, was rendered to 
those most in need. Lumber was high, $5 per hundred. 
Lumber from the United States sold for $40 per 1,000 feet; 
but it was not always to be had. There is no saw mill in 
the county. Six whip-saws find a demand for all the lumber 
they can cut, and would sell their lumber lower, but they 
have to take their pay mostly in barter. Iron sells for 7 to 8 
cents per lb. Mechanics charge from $2 to $2 50 per day. 
The two blacksmiths find employment in working on gun 
locks, hoes, bill hooks, chains, ironing carts, &c. &c. Char 



122 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

coal is used in the shops. No plow is used in the county; 
nor is there a farm lot inclosed. Cord wood sold in Latrobe 
and Harper at $2 50 to $3 00 per cord. I was astonished 
to see in Harper, native women bringing up cord wood on 
theii- heads, from the landing on the river bank, to private 
dwellings, at 25 cents per day, while colonists felt above such 
work, and were suffering from pecuniary embarrassments. I 
discovered in my rambles, that in every eighty rods that I 
passed, a road thirty feet \A'ide was laid out. Most of them 
were but foot paths. The water was soft and good. The 
temperature I found was 76°. I visited a school, and was 
permitted by the teacher to examine several classes. I was 
much gratified at their progress in geography, grammar, and 
the common rules of arithmetic. The little ones, in their 
abs and ibs, wei-e not forgotten. I saw by their progress that 
there is much difference in learning this class of children in 
a school room, than when taken irregularly from their play, as 
in Kentucky, to learn in the house, by some child who is anxious 
to learn them to read. These settlements are on a tract of land 
that will average three and a half miles wide. Of this body 
of land, one-fourth may be set down as too wet for cultiva- 
tion; one-fourth of the rest is too wet to be cultivated in the wet 
season, and the balance, as a bod}', is good land, with the 
variety of flat and rolling surface. In some of it, sand most- 
ly prevails; in others, a rich black mould, and on the rise of 
ground it is clay. But the cultivation of the lands do not 
evince great industry in the people. Comparatively but lit- 
tle coffee, ginger, arrow root, and the like, are raised. Cas- 
sada and sweet potatoes are raised on every lot in cultiva- 
tion. In conversation with six different well informed citi- 
zens, "separate and apart," I came to the conclusion, from 
their statements, that if the property of the citizens of the 
county were assessed, after excepting twelve persons, the 
property of the rest would not exceed $140 each. In Harper, 
one person was estimated at $10,000; five others in the coun- 
ty, at from $800 to $1,200. I went into a house for water, 
and had a most pressing invitation to stop and dine at a table, 
that had on it roast mutton, chicken, and cassada and sweet 
potatoes; but as 1 had made an engagement for 3 o'clock, to 
dine, I declined the invitation. There were, before the war, 
one hundred and sixty head of cattle; now there are not more 
than fifty. Before the war, there were one hundred and fifty 
head of hogs; now not more than seventy. One man who 
came to this county with only two dollars in his pocket, (he 
is a carpenter, and owns land) had before the war twenty 
head of cattle; now he has but ten. He owned thirty hogs; 
now he has twenty. But two of the natives have become 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 123 

citizens of the county, and neither of them hold an office. 
Under the fornner constitution of this people, their laws would 
not allow the sale of ardent spirits in its territory. But under its 
present laws, liquor can be sold by any person who wnll take 
out license to sell it. One man sells it in Harper, who, like 
other sellers of ardent spirits, thinks it causes a great waste of 
money, and health and happiness; but will sell it as long as 
buyers can be found. There is a law in Liberia that is not 
enforced. It is this : when any man takes out a license to 
sell ardent spirits, he is required to put up a sign, viz : "A. 
B. sells rum." This sounds plainer than grocery, "restau- 
rant," or saloon." The currency of this county, when it was 
the Maryland Commonwealth, was in paper of $1,50 cents, 
25 cents, 10 cents, and 5 cents, redeemable at the Treasurer's 
office in Harper. Fourteen hundred dollars of this currency 
was in circulation. Ithas all been redeemed except $300, which 
the people desire the Legislature of Liberia to redeem. The 
Liberian currency is now^ the currency of this county. I re- 
turned to the ship much fatigued. Thermometer at 7 P. M., 
in the cabin, 81°. 

January 16. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 80. This being 
Saturday, I found many persons had come in from the coun- 
try to Harper. How strong are the impressions of observa- 
tion. This people, when in the United States, had seen, 
that on Saturday, the whites go to the county seat to 
see and hear the news. It is a gathering next to a county 
court's monthly gathering. And as this was to be the last 
day's stay of the ship at this port, many came in with their 
letters to be sent to their American friends. The postage of 
a single letter by the ship, to any part of the United States, 
is five cents. They all came in on foot — not one of them rode 
into town, nor left their horses outside of it. I was three 
hours in the Superintendent's office, w^here many of the citi- 
zens were coming and going to do business, which required 
a free use of the pen, quickness at figures, and promptness 
without hurry, to decide upon the correctness of accounts, 
and the legality of charges. I was pleased with the readi- 
ness of doing the business of the office. In the post office I 
found suitable postal arrangements for the present state of 
the Republic. There is a Post Master General who has the 
oversight of the whole postal arrangements in the Republic. 
There are post offices at Cape Mount, Monrovia, Buchanan, 
Greenville, and Harper. The collectors in the custom houses 
are post masters. The mail bag for each port, is delivered 
by the vessel bringing it, to the collector, who assorts the let- 
ters and papers. Those for other counties are put up and 
sealed, and sent to their destination by the first conveyance. 



124 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

The letters for persons living out of the Republic are for- 
warded as soon as practicable, without postage. All letters 
remaining in the office for persons living in the county, which 
have not been called for within three days, are to be publish- 
ed in the town, in some public place, they are directed to. 
All letters of half ounce, and under, paj^ a postage of three 
cents — letters over a half ounce, or part of an ounce, pay 
one cent additional postage. When single letters are sent 
by express, to a point in Liberia, the postage is twelve and a 
half cents — double letters twenty-five cents. AH letters 
mailed out of the limits of the Republic, are mailed free of 
postage. If letters remain in the post office for thirty days, 
uncalled for, a list of such is published in the different post 
offices in the Republic, and the post masters in those coun- 
ties are to have the list advertised in the different towns in 
the county. For such an advertisement, a two-fold postage 
on the letter is required, when called for. If in ninety days, 
the letters are not called for, they are considered as dead 
letters, and are sent to the Post Master General, who opens 
them, and if he finds any money or valuable article in the 
letter, it is made his duty to issue notice of the same in each 
county and township, setting forth the name of the writer, 
and every particular necessary, and to whom the letter is di- 
rected; and the claimant must establish his claim before a 
justice of the peace, and pay ten per cent, on the value of 
the contents of the letter. If no claimant is found, then the 
contents belong to the Government. Postage on letters to 
the United States by steamers, by the way of Liverpool, is 
thirty -three cents. They come in forty to forty-five days. I 
obtained from the physician's books the following statistics. 
(I would state that the years are taken without any previous 
knoweldge of their purport.) In the expedition of 1855, 
thirty emigrants were landed here. Two of the number 
died by the fever. Up to January \7 . 1858, one other of the 
party had died. In another expedition of 1855, seven emi- 
grants were landed here. One died by the fever — the rest 
are now living. In the third expedition of 1855, fifty-nine 
emigrants were landed here. Five died by the fever, and 
four died by other diseases, up to January 17, 1858. In 1856, 
thirty-four emigrants were landed here. Five died by the 
fever, and two by other diseases, up to January 17, 1858. In 

1857, fifteen emigrants w^ere landed here. Two died by fe- 
ver — none of the remainder had died up to January 17, 

1858. The book was opened for 1851. Twenty-one emi- 
grants were landed here. Four died by the fever, and one 
of the others died before January 17, 1858 — the day of this 
examination. "The physician thinks the May expedition, 
or eoon thereafter, from the United States, is upon the whole. 



LIBERTA, AS I FOUND IT. 125 

the best time emigrants should come to Cape Palmas to set- 
tle. In consequence of the rains, the air is cooler, and the 
emigrants are liable to take the fever at once, and with less 
severity, than when taking it in warm weather, and they are 
then less prostrated than when suffering under the fever in the 
heat of summer. Children between twelve and fifteen are 
more liable to die in acclimating than children under those 
years, for younger children being more or less affected 
by worms, the medicines given to them for their removal, 
prepare the system to pass the acclimation more favorably." 
There is no perceptible difference between blacks and mu- 
lattoes in acclimating. I found, by referring to the clerk's 
books of the births and deaths in the county, that since 1854 
to January 17, 1858, there have been one one hundred and 
two deaths in the county. Twenty-six w^ere lost in the war 
of 1856-7, by drowning in the lal^e Shepherd, which makes 
seventy-six deaths by fever and other diseases and casual- 
ties. During the same period there were eighty-nine births, 
making thirteen more births over the deaths by fever and 
ordinary causes. The emigrants sent to this county have 
chiefly gone from the state of Maryland. The whole number 
landed here up to this'^time, is rising thirteen hundred. I did 
not get a more definite number from the colonization ofRce in 
Baltimore. An epidemic, a few years ago, having a typhoid 
form, carried of a good many people. The people appeared 
to me, except some cases of ulcers, to be health3^ and so did 
the children. It is true, there are small strips of mangrove 
swamps on the margin of the banks of Cape Palmas river, 
but the sea breeze has such a sweep over the land, by reason 
of its formation, that I do not consider the country unhealthy. 
From the collector's books, I obtained the following informa- 
tion. 
The exports of 1855, were — 

Cash, $870 34; 

Camwood, 32 tons; 

Palm oil, 77,250 gallons; 

Drafts or bills, $4,143 06; 

Rice, 4 kroos; 
1856— In cash, $535 86; 

Camwood, 8 tons; 

Palm oil, 19,755 gallons; 

Drafts or bills, $2,000; 

Rice, 1,195 kroos; 
1857— In cash, $639 53; 

Camwood, 5 tons; 

Palm oil, 8,075 gallons; 

Drafts or bills, $706 20; 

Rice, 2,000 kroos. 



126 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 



The drafts or bills were drawn on Missionary Societies in 
the United States. The cash was gold and silver remitted 
by traders. The camwood and oil goes to England, France, 
Hamburg, and the United States. 

The imports during the year 1856, were, - $23,717 90 
The imports during the year 1857, were, - 19,015 72 

I entered a magistrate's court to see "that justice was done 
to the parties." The "squire" was seated in his chair, with 
his pen, taking notes, and two attorneys, with the laws of Li- 
beria, and the bill of rights, and miscellaneous provisions, 
laid down in the fifth article of the Constitution of the Re- 
public in their hands, having a leaf turned down to some 
statute that each, no doubt, thought would clear his client 
before the court. Every thing was going on in order, more so 
than the parties had been acting; for it was a case of scandal 
growing out of the free use of the tongues of two females. 

In making inquiries of the people in regard to their con- 
tentedness of mind in living here, they had no fault to find 
with the country. They complained of the hard times, and 
the scarcity of money. I found two persons who would go 
back to the United States if they had money to do so. This 
did not appear strange to me, though I thought if they would 
use all diligence with their hands and strength, they would 
find a home here far better than they could, even in the state 
they came irom. I would distinctly state that the suffering 
here was mostly from the efi'ectsof the war. The burning of 
houses, the killing of stock, the absence from their lands ly- 
ing partially waste, and raising nothing to export, must ne- 
cessarily, at least, straighten them in their temporal circum- 
stances. No census of this county has been taken. But 
from my inquiries in each settlement, of the number of fam- 
ilies in them, and of what would be the estimate of the per- 
sons in the difieient settlements, I think nine hundred and fifty 
inhabitants would not vary fifty either way. The legal voters 
maybe putdown atone hundred and forty, butone hundjed and 
twenty-five is the highest vote that has been given. The 
number enrolled in the militia during the war, was two hun- 
dred; but then the loss, by the drowning of twenty-six men, 
reduced their number to one hundred and seventy-four. All 
are supplied with guns, having received from Liberia Proper, 
forty guns, and fifty from the Maryland Colonization Soci- 
ety. There are in the county, fourteen cannon, from three 
to nine pounders, with six barrels of powder, one thousand 
balls, and a good supply of grape shot. The natives mingle 
very much with the Liberians as to passing to and fro, and 
doing work for the Liberians when they can get it. It is es- 
timated that there are twenty-five to thirty thousand natives 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 127 

in the county. Thej'^ are convinced, I think, that the Libe- 
rians in the iiepublic can bring a force against them that 
can subdue them. And that the Liberians can have the as- 
sistance of vessels to take men from one point of attack to 
another point, strengthens this connection. In this last 
war, the natives had two four pound cannons in use. They 
were taken by the Liberians. The natives took possession 
of the six pounder that sunk in the lake. After the war, the 
natives returned to the Liberians the six pounder, and the 
Liberians restored to the natives their two four pounders. 
The natives use their cannon for anvils in their iron work. 
The Liberians had in this war, the assistance of two tribes. 
The Cape Palmas tribe can bring into the field, such fighting 
men as they are, five hundred to five hundred and fifty 
men. ' 

There were landed at Harper the remaining emigrants 
who came in the ship from the United States, four adults, 
and four children, under twelve years of age. For their six 
months support were landed, ten barrels of beef, five bar- 
rels of pork, ten barrels of flour, half barrel of sugar, one 
barrel of syrup, one bag of coifee, one box of mustard, and 
one box of soap, two bundles of sundries. 

It is but right for me to say, that the people of this count}^, 
taken as a body, do not show, making all due allowance for 
the effects of the war, that advance in property and agricul- 
ture that it is desirable to see in a community. The foster- 
ing care of the Maryland Society, I think, has not called out 
the eiiergy and industry of the people. This is seen in the 
size of their farms, in their dwellings, and in their agricul- 
tural productions. They have not had to depend on their 
own labor as much as those sent by the American Coloniza- 
tion Society. The American Society gives the six months 
support, and the land in quantity, according to the age and 
sex, and family of the emigrant. The Maryland Society gave 
the six months support, built a house, with the expectation 
that the emigrant would build a similar house for a future 
emigrant to live in., furnished him with hoe, axe, &c.; fed 
him when he stood in need, and furnished the colony with a 
currency of $1,400, which the society has redeemed, except 
$300. There are five white persons living in this county 
who belong to the Episcopal Mission. I returned at night 
to the ship. Not having time to go down to Cavalla, fifteen 
miles from Cape Palmas, and do what 1 wish to accomplish 
to-day, I declined going there with two friends, passengers 
in the ship, who left the ship in a row-boat, early this morn- 
ing to see it. On their return they gave to me an account of 
their visit, from which 1 gather this information. We passed 



128 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

a half town of natives living on the coast, called Half Gra- 
wa3^ A little lov^^er down there was another town of the 
same tribe where the Episcopal church had a missionary 
school taught by a native. Byshop Payne, a white man, of 
the Episcopal church, resides at Cavalla. He was absent 
from home. He owns a horse that came from the same 
country the mare came from. In going from the sea beach 
to his house, you pass through a native town of the Bewader 
tribe, in which town are probably two hundred and fifty in- 
habitants. The town was built in a circular form. There 
are several native towns in this neighborhood, with two hun- 
dred to one thousand souls. The chief man in the tov\n, of 
one thousand souls, has professed the christian religion. An 
Episcopal church has been built near to the Bishop's house. 
A school of thirty native girls is kept here. Twenty families 
have professed Christianity, and most of them go full dressed 
about their ordinary business of life. They live in a separate 
town. Many of the houses are made of brick dried in the 
sun, while other buildings were framed. They had patches 
of land adjoining their houses on which were raised the 
usual productions of the country. Their lots were inclosed 
with upright stakes. The women attended to the domestic 
affairs of the house, w^hile the men were off on their farms 
at work — this being the season to prepare for the rice crop. 
The native towns are inclosed with split slats six feet high, 
with gates to g:o in and out. Every thing around showed 
the Episcopal Mission was doing a good work for the civili- 
zation of the parents, and the teaching of their children the 
necessary knowledge of letters. Worship was held regu- 
larly among those natives. Five miles below the Bishop's 
house, is the Cavalla river. Within these five miles, there 
are several native towns. The bar of the river was so bad 
that they did not venture to cross it. In the rainy season 
there are times when it is impassable for boats. The river 
above the bar is navigable for many miles up in the interior. 
Just below the bar of the river is a native town, in which a 
school is taught by a native teacher, under the care of the 
Episcopal Mission. The natives here are called the Grabo 
people, and they assisted the Cape Palmas Liberians in the 
late war against King Yellow Weill's tribe. The thermome- 
ter at 7 P. M. on shipboard, was 82°. 

January 17. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 82°. The ship 
weighed anchor early this morning to return back to Cape 
Mount, touching at all the points we stopped at, when we 
came down the coast. Back from the native town, Fishtown, 
seven miles from Cape Palmas, there are hills marked down 
on the coast chart, two hundred and ninety feet high. Fif- 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 129 

teen miles from Cape Palmas, near to the mouth of Garra- 
way river, stood the noted cotton tree on this coast, by meas- 
urement, two hundred feet high. Twenty miles back, the 
coast chart places several mounts, one of which is ten hun- 
dred and ninety feet high. We gained to-day some fifteen 
miles on our way. Thermometer at 7 P. M , was 81°. 

January 18. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 82o. The wind was 
still light. At 4 P. M., we came to anchor off 

GREENVILLE. 

It being too late to go on shore, our visit was deferred un- 
til to-morrow morning. 

January 19. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 82°. I went on shore 
to finish my observations of this town, and the county of 
Sinoe. There are three Receptacles in this town. Eachi 
building is 26x14 feet, having two rooms below and two 
rooms above, in each house. They were put up by the Amer- 
ican Colonization Society. They were placed on the north- 
east side of the town, on the north west bank of the Sinoe river. 
The ground on which they stand is good, dry and pleasant. 
But on the opposite side of this ground, across the river, is a 
mangrove swamp, some twenty feet deep to the eye, which 
continues up the river for three miles. A similar range of 
swamps is on the side of the river on which the Receptacles 
stand; w^hile near to the Receptacle, there is a marsh that 
runs into the town, overflowed by the tides. A physician is 
located here by the American Society, whose salary is $800 
a year. The practice he has in the place is independent of 
his salary. He was not in favor of the location of the Re- 
ceptacles on this ground. He has been living here two years, 
but has had no case of acclimating fever to treat, as no emi- 
grants have been sent here since he settled here. There are 
two churches here, Methodist and Baptist. The Presbyterian 
and Episcopal denominations are each having a church built. 
All of the denominations have preaching every Sabbath, and 
also day and Sabbath schools. I visited two of the schools. 
The Episcopal school is kept by the Episcopal minister, a 
colored man. He has a class of two boys in Latin and Greek, 
and classes of boys and girls in Algebra and Geometry. And 
I must say I was greatly gratified with the quickness, as well 
as with the correctness of their work. They were examined 
without preparation for my visit. I heard other classes in 
grammar, reading and spelling. They read well and spelt 
well, putting the syllables together as they spelt the words — 
not a common method in modern schools, and therefore it is 
not a common thing at home to find good unhesitating read- 
ers. This was a new sight to me. Here were teachers and 
9 



130 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

Bcholars of the black race in branches of study, who had eve- 
ry nfiotive, in school and at home, and in the society around 
them, to teach and learn in reference to a state of society 
that one day the youth, in their manhood, would occupy. 1 
could see in Louisville schools, whose teachers and scholars 
were blacks; but under what circumstances were those teach- 
ers and scholars acting? For what sphere in lil'e were the 
scholars learning? I'he teachers, and the parents of the 
children taught, could comparatively turn the Ohio river 
back to run up its falls, as they could change their position 
in society, to have the influences operating on their children's 
education that are possessed in Liberia. I left the school 
room with an exhortation to the scholars to be diligent in 
study, and the prayer to God that He would bless teacher 
and scholars to the great good of Africa. There is a steam 
saw mill going to ruin in the outer part of the town. It is 
true the lumber could be taken irom the ground, by water, to 
the lower landing of the town; and it is true that the prices 
of lumber would justify the running of the mill; and it is also 
true that logs could be brought down the river in any quanti- 
ty., to the mill; but it has been given up, it seems, to decay as 
fast as the wood frame and the iron works will permit. The 
abandonment of this mill, I do not think, is owing to inabili- 
ty .among the people to have so much capital placed in such 
a mill. The price of lumber is from $S to $5 per hundred, 
according to its kind and thickness. There are no oxen in 
Greenville, nor in the county. Neither are there horses or 
mules. There were in Greenville and its vicinity about fifty 
head of cattle, and about as many sheep, with a few swine. 
This is certainly evidence that these kinds of stock can be 
raised here to any demand for them for work or food. And 
grass and nutricious food can be raised for them. Coffee is 
raised in the yards of many citizens. One man has eight 
ajcres of coffee trees on one of the fields not divided into 
town lots. Some of the trees are bearing trees. And yet 
coffee is imported here. This is strange husbandry and 
economy. Many seem to act on the belief that more money 
can be made by trading with the natives. They buy what 
they trade with, at a great per centage, of the merchants; 
but ihey sell to the native at a greater advance, and then 
make a profit on what they sell, that they have taken in pay- 
ment from the native. It is a barter that taxes the indispo- 
sition of such Liberians to settle down on farm lands at a 
heavy and injurious rate. This trading propensity disquali- 
fies them for that industry in cultivating the earth that always 
meets with a good rew^ard. This practice of trade is an ex- 
crescence that should be removed from the Liberians who are 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 131 

not merchants, as soon as possible, by each one turning to 
some nnechanical or agricultural pursuit with diligence. "He 
becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand; but the hand 
of the diligent maketh rich." There is in this community a 
difTerence in the wealth of its citizens, as is the case in com- 
munities at home. One individual is estimated at $7,000; 
three others at $1,500 to $2,000; five over $1,000; several 
from $200 to $500. The great body of the people range 
from $50 to $150; while some have nothing to show but a 
daily life that is spent with but little industry. There are 
many in Greenville who sought refuge within its limits in 
the time of the war of 1856. This class of persons do what 
they can to repay their friends for their assistance to them. 
In many of the houses I saw much taste, and great neatnesa 
and order. There was not much affectation of manners; but 
there was an expression of intercourse in lile that must arise 
Irom their residence in a soci^^ty that knows ol no distinction 
but what prosperity in life and propriety of conduct makes. 
There are in Greenville twelve carpenters, several masons, 
one blacksmith, two shoemakers, three tailors, two cabinet- 
makers, and one clock mender. Water can be obtained by 
digging from ten to fifteen feet. It is soft water, and very 
good to those who daily dritdi it. There is sand-stone on 
the shores of the river. The natives are the carriers of all 
articles from the landing, and of wood from the woods, to 
the dwellings. As almost ever}^ man is a trader in Liberia, 
in tobacco or cloth with the natives, he gets his work done at 
a nominal value. Sometitnes I have Ibund myself often dis- 
cussing with myself, whether the Liberians would not be 
benefitted in their industrious habits if all the natives would 
keep away from their settlements; and 1 invariably would 
come to the conclusion it would be an excellent movement. 
The present population of Greenville is five hundred and 
ninty-five. This includes those who have their temporary 
residence in tlie town, having had their houses burnt down 
during the late war. I dined with a merchant from Chailes- 
ton, 8. C on roast beef, foiled chicken, and bacon, with the 
usual vegetables lor dinner, and a good variety of f.uits from 
his lot. In going into his garden, I found, beside other fruita 
that I have mentioned, the ocra tree and the bread-f<*uit tree. 
The ocra grows tall, and bears a fruit that is boiled when 
ripe, and foi'ms a thick and pleasant food, that is very nour- 
ishing. The bread fruit is as large, sometimes, as a child's 
head, marked on its surface with irregular six-sided depres- 
sions. It contains a white fibrous ptilp. When ripe, it is 
jui{;y. The inside, when boiled, tastes like an Irish potatoe; 
if roasted, it tastes like a roasted chesnut. The British gov- 



132 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

ernment ordered, in 1791, some of these fruit trees to be 
brought from the Society Islands, and planted in the West 
Ipdia Islands. Three hundred and fifty-two were put out in 
Jamaica and other islands. (Encyp.) In three years the tree 
will bear. There is but little attention paid to its raising in 
Liberia. The mango plum is cultivated here, as in other 
parts of Liberia. It is a native of India. It was introduced 
into Jamaica in 1782. (Enti/p.) It grows on a tree the size of 
a very large apple tree. Its yield is abundant. The fruit is 
the size of a goose egg, and greenish in color, when ripe. 
The stone is two inches long and one inch wide, and flat^ 
with a comparatively slight swell in the centre. The taste 
of the ripe plum is delicious. It has a slight acid taste. In 
the scarcity, in 1856, of provisions, the mango plum was 
found very serviceable, for it is very nutricious. The chiota 
is the fruit of a vine, and grows to the size of a pear. It is 
used for food, because of its nutricious properties. It is very 
palatable. I walked out to 

FARMSVILLE. 
Ip is two miles west from Greenville, and is separated from 
it by a swamp, over which is a causeway of sixty yards in 
length. The farms lie between Po river, or more properly 
Po Jake, and the Sinoe river. The land is rich. In some 
parts it is a sandy mould, and in other parts clay. The 
ground is inclined to be rolling. Many of the lots were un- 
cultivated. The stumps showed it had been heavily timbered. 
The usual little streams were flowing toward some creek. 
The effects of the war in 1858, were seen on the different 
farms. One of the battles was fought here. All of the 
houses had been burnt down, except fifteen, by the natives. 
Ip the remaining houses, from one to three families were re- 
siding. The families seeking the shelter were, many of them^ 
getting their lands in a condition to live on them again. 
Eighty-five persons were lixinghere. Some who had lived 
here were now living in Greenville. In some of the fields 
were cassada, eddoes, sweet potatoes, plantains, bananas, 
corn, and a few hills, here and there, of cane. They had 
poultry and Muscovy ducks. (I did not see in Liberia the 
common puddle duck.) I saw the coffee tree growing here; 
but the character of the land had to speak how much of a 
population could be supported here. They had preaching on 
the Sabbath by Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian minis- 
ters; and the day and Sabbath schools had been re-opened. 
The nearest native town to Farmsville is eight miles. I next 
visited 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 



13^ 



LOUISIANA. 
This is a farming community. It has a creek on the south 
side of it, and the Sinoe river is on its east side. The creek 
empties into the Sinoe river. Louisiana is three miles frorn 
Greenville, to which it is connected by water. The creek i's 
entered on going two miles from Greenville. On each side 
of the creek is a mangrove swamp. A mile and a half up 
the creek, you come to a rise of land some three feet high at 
high tide, where you land to go into the western part of thp 
township. A dike has been thrown up some three hundred 
yards long, to give a dry path to the inhabited part of the 
town. The ditch made by making the dike, gives a channel 
for the w^ater to run up, and permit the canoes to enter, and 
be out of the creek for safety. Of course when the tide ia 
down, the canoes are "high and dry" for a time. Louisiana 
is a farming district. It embraces, if I may so speak, three 
tracts of land. That is, there are small streams rising froni 
wet land between each settlement, with narrow strips cf 
wood left standing. This swamp land, in some places one 
hundred yards wide, is made passable by small ditches 
and a bridge. If the timber was cleared oiT, and the streams 
were kept cleared of vegatable obstructions, as logs, branches 
and leaves, the w^ater now used by the settlers would be 
more palatable to new comers; while the land brought into 
cultivation would give better crops, from its richness, than 
are obtained from other portions of land in the settlement. 
In general the soil is good, judging from what was growing 
on some of the land. Two of the tracts of land had more 
wet land than the third; yet all three had its due proportion. 
The first tract had one hundred and fifty acres, with seveiji 
houses, in which lived thirteen families; the next tract had 
about one hundred and thirty acres. Only six houses were 
standing, with ten families in them; and the third tract had 
about one hundred and fifty acres, with seven houses, accom- 
modating twelve families. Sixty lots had been drawn in 
Louisiana, and eighty-five acres had been in cultivation be- 
fore the war. A few individuals had planted out coff'ee trees. 
The late Dr. Brown had on his land from four to five hun; • 
dred coffee trees. Like Farmsville, it has had its sufl^erings 
and losses by war, which time and industry can repair. The 
condition of the people showed that they had suffered not 
only in the loss of clothing, fleeing for their lives, in the dead 
of night, from the flames spreading over their houses, but 
from the loss of the productions of their land. Their great- 
est losses were their houses and household property. Many 
of the Ross family, i'rom Mississippi, and of the Witherspoon 
family, from Alabama, settled here. Some of the Ross fami- 



134 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

\y recognized me in the course of conversation with them, 
v^e having met in New Orleans when they sailed from there 
to this land in 1849. Many of these two families had died. 
The Roas family started to this country from their homes, to 
my own particular knowledge, most shfimefully neglected in 
supplying their wants to commence life here, or in any land. 
I stated their case, as to their wants for cooking utensils, 
hoes, axes, &c. to the agent of the American Society, in New 
Orleans, and he, at the expense of that Society, supplied 
them. Such a wrong done to emigrants hy executors, I have 
not witnessed in any expedition to Liberia. I was, there- 
fore, surprised when I asked them, in view of their losses by 
fire and the depredations of the natives, if they would not 
now prefer to be on the old plantation again, to hear them 
say promptly, "No." They have Methodist and Baptist 
churches here, and one school is kept up for the three settle- 
ments. There are now living in Louisiana one hundred and 
tv/o souls. It is a great relief to the people that they have 
game, as deer, pigeons, rice-birds, and other game, with a 
plenty of fish in the creek and river. 

The creek I have referred to in going up to Loi:iisiana, is fol- 
lowed up some three miles above the landing place of Lou- 
isiana, and you come to 

LEXINGTON. 

As I could not go there, and had met with different persons 
who lived there, I will give the result of the information I 
obtained from them. This tract of land is good for the va- 
rious productions of the country. One hundred and sixty-two 
farm lots, of two, ^\e and ten acres, had been drawn or 
bought. Coffee trees had been put out, and some had as 
high as six hundred trees growing. They had two marshy 
pieces of land, but the narrow ridge of land between them was 
rich land. There were small strips of swamp between their 
tracts of land. The war had left it marks among them. Fif- 
teen houses had been burnt down, leaving twenty houses 
standing, with thirty-five families living in them. Only 
eighty-seven souls were now living in the settlement. They 
had Methodist and Baptist churches, day schools and Sab- 
bath schools. I returned to the ship. The thermometer at 
T P. M. was 810. 

January 20. The thermometer was 82° at 7 A. M. I went 
on shore, and by previous arrangements, took a citizen of 
Greenville with me in a boat to visit the places on the Sinoe 
river. We passed the landing place to Louisiana, on the 
river, and seven miles from Greenville we stopped at the 
landing place of 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 135 

REEDSVILLE. 

This settlement is on the west bank of the Sinoe river. It 
took its name from the Reed family of servants. Mrs. Mar- 
garet Reed, of Mississippi, liberated by will her servants, to 
be sent to Liberia by her executors. In 1843, seventy-one 
of them were sent. In 1844, seventy-two more were sent. 
Two of the last number died on the passage. In all, there 
were one hundred and forty-one landed in this county. They 
were acclimated in Greenville, and the living were located 
here. Many of them died from the unhealthiness of this 
place, and many moved back to Greenville, and to the settle- 
ments in Liberia, for the same cause; while others would re- 
main because the land was rich. This people were in fami- 
lies. They had drawn about two hundred and twenty-five 
acres of land, as I judged the tract to contain. It may be 
more or less. This tract of land has a swamp as one boun- 
dary, with its running stream to a creek. The creek is another 
boundary; the Sinoe river is a third boundary, and a strip of 
wood land is the fourth boundary. In the rainy season, the 
waters of the river are so high as to back the w^aters of the 
creek, which causes its waters, and that of the swamp, to 
overflow the arable land. The extent of the overflow de- 
pends upon the rains that raise the creek and the river. For 
some days, on some parts of the tract, the water is two feet 
and more deep. Some of the land, therefore, cannot be 
planted at all, with safety to the things planted, except they 
can live at least after a five days' overflow. These over- 
flows leave a rich sediment on the land, but at a dear pay- 
ment to health. The richness of the land is the reason given 
by those who still remain here, for staying on it. But per- 
haps another reason may be, they have settled down here, 
and have not the means to abandon all their improvements 
to begin somewhere else anew. I ascertained from those of 
the family living here, that but ninty-five of this Heed fami- 
ly were living, which number includes those born in Liberia. 
There are but fifty acres of this tract held by the members 
of the Reed family. The rest of the tract is surrendered to 
the government, and is not occupied. There are but three 
houses standing here, which contain six families, numbering 
twerKty-two souls. The severest battle fought in the war, 
was fought here. Twelve houses were burnt down. Of 
course most of the families who resided here have not re- 
turned to rebuild their houses and improve their lands. The 
natives who fired this town lived but one and a half miles 
from here. O, what sufl^ering war occasions ! I do not doubt 
a very diflerent aspect would have been seen in the condition 
of the settlers of these towns, had no war taken place; while 



136 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

the face of the country, as to its locality, would have been the 
same that it now appears to the visitor. The river water is 
used here for drink. Leaving this place, we came, after go- 
ing two miles up the river, on the same side of it, to 

BLUNTSVILLE. 
Here was an excellent tract of dry land. Twenty-nine 
lots of one-fourth of an acre each had been professedly laid 
off; and some two, five, seven, and ten acre farm lots. But 
only the number of chains on the bank of the river had been 
laid out with the depth of the lot, with no bearings, and no 
reference to the bend of the river for the front line of the 
lots. And what is worse, for the establishment of lines, the 
Government has sold two hundred acres of land running up 
to this supposed boundary of lots since the war, thus giving 
to the purchaser his regular metes and boundaries, leaving 
the drawers of lots to get their quantity of land as ihey can. 
But the war has arranged this matter of lines, though it is 
not best to employ such a regulator to do it. The property 
being swept of buildings, the lines can now be run, giving 
broader lots on the river; in other words, resurveying and 
making new boundaries. Liberia can furnish, I believe, 
-good surveyors of land, and they ought to be employed. The 
tribe that attacked the Liberians lived on the land that falls 
within the bounds of the two hundred acres of land. The 
land was sold at $2 per acre. There are but five families 
who have returned to re-settle here. Two of the families have 
rebuilt their houses. The natives, humbering two hundred 
and fifty, came upan the Liberians in the night, without 
having awakened any suspicion in the minds of the Libe- 
rians, that they had unfriendly feelings toward them, and 
fired their houses, killing their cattle, their sheep, their hogs, 
and their poultry, while the Liberians fled to other settle- 
ments for safety. The loss of property here was total. The 
Methodist Missionary Society had a church and school here. 
The buildings were burnt down, and the children were scat- 
tered with their parents. The two buildings put up since the 
war, evince an energy of purpose in the builders that will 
ineet in due time with a reward from the earth by the bles- 
fiings of God, who fosters, I believe, this country. The owner 
of the two hundred acres (who lives in Greenville, and was 
accompanying me in my tour,) has built two houses on his 
land. A former settler burnt out, occupies both of the 
houses, having rented thirty-five acres of the tract, which he 
has in cultivation. And in consequence of the war, some 
parents have bound some of their children to the owner of 
the land, for their better care in this their time of adversity. 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 137 

'These children attend school, and work on the farm out of 
school hours. The Methodist Mission has revived the school, 
and put up a house that answers for preaching, the residence 
of the teacher, and a school room. The school numbers sev- 
enteen children. The number of souls now in Bltintsville, 
is twenty-nine. On the farm was cassada, (the best I had 
seen since I left the St. Paul's river,) American and native 
corn, rice, sugar cane, eddoes, beans, melons, (fee. The rice 
was sown in drills the last of October; was on an average, 
eighteen inches high, and would be ready to harvest next 
month. Its height then would be, if nothing befalls its growth , 
ftree and a half feet. The American corn is regarded as 
better than the native corn, for yield and food. A number 
of coffee trees had been put out on this tract. The sweet 
potatoes were abundant, and had come down to fifty cents 
per bushel in Greenville. In my rambles here I saw the 
track of a leopard. One had been killed two days since. 
The people used the river water. The natives who lived on 
this tract of land have moved two miles up the river. This 
tribe, united with other tribes on the other side of the river 
Since, in this war referred to. They were burnt out by the 
Liberians. Not a vestige of their residence here was left 
but the roots they had in the ground. The tribe was named 
Since after the river. The tribes engaged in the war were 
called Butaw, Blue Barre, and Sinoe. They are scattered 
in small bodies over much territory. The Sinoe tribe lived 
on the west side of the river, having their towns, more or 
less, near to the Liberian Settlements. The Blue Barre 
tribe lived on the eastern side of the river. These tribes had 
ceded to the Libarian Government the political control of 
their land. It was for some cause afterwards resisted by the 
tribe, and the Liberians were disturbed in the exercise of 
their claimed rights over it. The war came on by the insti- 
gations of this tribe. But the Liberians conquered the 
whole force of the natives. The three tribes sued for peace; 
and in the treaty, ceded in good faith, the title to their land, 
reserving the right to cultivate what they needed for their 
support, and that was not to be withheld when needed by 
the Liberians for settlements. The Blue Barre tribe also 
agreed to pay to the Liberian Government, $1,000, toward 
defraying the expenses of the war on the part of Liberia. 
An interdict has been placed on the tribes by the Liberian 
Government, forbidding all persons, Liberians and foreigners, 
to trade with these tribes until they have complied with the 
engagements they have stipulated to perform; and by their 
conduct, evince repentance lor what they have done to the 
Liberians. This inderdict is generally regarded by traders. 



138 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

The tribes are now peaceful. It is deserving ot notice that 
thiai war ori«j^inated by the influence of an unprincipled I'.ng- 
lish trader on the Blue Barre tribe. The grand jury of Me- 
surado county found a true bill against him for stii-ring up, 
and encouraging an insurrection among these tribes against 
the Liberians. In this war, five hundred Liberians met the 
men of the three tribes, estimated to be five thousand in 
number. The Liberians had sixteen killed in the war, and 
many have died from wounds and exposure How many the 
natives lost cannot be learned, for when one is killed his 
body is taken away by the natives standing by, no matter 
what advantage ground they may have in the battle at the 
time. Their dead never fall into the hands of their ene- 
mies. We left this place, (the extent of the settlements of 
the Liberians up the river,) and went up to Governor Brown's 
town, a native head man, eight miles up the river from 
Bluntsville. On our way we saw monkeys jumping from 
bough to bough on the trees on the banks of the river. They 
chattered awa.y in a language best known to themselves. 
We saw a snake some eight feet long, swimming across the 
river, making good progress to get out of our way. This is 
the thii'd snake that I have seen in all my travels in Liberia. 
I certainh^ cannot say from this fact, that it is a land of 
snakes, nor that it is a land of wild beasts. Besides, I be- 
lieve such occupants decrease in number in all lands as civ- 
ilization brings the land under its cultivation. This tract of 
Brown's land is high, rolling, and rich. Its soil is clay, mixed 
with sand. I should judge there were two hundred acres 
within the half circle of the stream of water. In passing 
down a gradual descent on the left hand, I saw another tract 
of similar land; and in going down a greater descent on the 
right hand, and looking over the stream, I saw a similar tract 
in its face and soil. This would be an excellent place for a 
settlement. The natives here used the river water, though 
they used also the water of the stream. The men were at 
work preparing for the sowing of rice, as the smoke told us 
as we came up the river. There might be one hundred and 
fifty natives in this town. The women and children were 
sitting around at the doors of their thatched houses which 
are built in a ciicular form, near enough to make one general 
conflagration when one building was set on fire. They were 
civil to us, and gave us illustrations of the use of the tools I 
picked up to examine. The tools were of their own make. 
They were not designed to dispatch work. The people ap- 
peaied to be healthy. We were now eighteen miles from 
Greenville. It was too late to go up four miles to the falls of 
the river Sinoe, and we turned our course to Greenville. I 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 139 

was on board of the ship with a good appetite, although I 
had taken a luncheon with me at 7 P. M. Thermometer 82° 
at 7 P. M. 

January 'Zl. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 82°. I spent the 
day in Greenville. From the county clerk's books, I obtain- 
ed the following official facts. In 1853, there were in this 
county, twenty-four births and sixteen deaths. In 1854, 
there were forty-four deaths — the bij'ths of this year were 
not reported. In 1855, there were sixty-three deaths and 
fourteen births. In 1856, there were one hundred and twen- 
ty-two deaths and twenty-four births. In 1857, there were 
fifty-eight deaths and thirty-two births. The year 1856 wag 
the year of the war. I also learned officially, that the chad 
been three hundred votes polled in the county. In the last 
election theie were but one hundred and sixty-two votes 
polled, but two hundred could nouo be polled in the county. 
The militia numbers one hundred and ninety-five men. {Sev- 
en of the natives are citizens. None of them hold any civil 
office. Several of the recaptured slaves on board of the 
ship Pons, who were landed in Liberia, have settled here 
and had intermarried with Liberian women. I passed their 
little farms which showed that they cultivated their lands 
well, and had comfortable houses to live in. In the county 
there are seven cannon from one to six pounders. The Li- 
berian Government furnished the county with two hundred 
and fifty of the one thousand guns given to Liberia by 
France. There is always on hand a good supply of pow- 
der and ball. The cannon and ammunition are so distribu- 
ted as to give the settlements each a proper supply. The 
natives have no cannon. They have guns and ammunition, 
but their ammunition is always limited in its supply. There 
are nine whipsaws running in the county. Fire wood, when 
sold to the shipping, at the landing in Greenville, is $2 75 to 
$3 per cord. They have had no inmates in the jail for the 
two last years. There never has been stationed in this 
county a regular read physician until within the last two 
years. The late Dr. Lugenbeel once spent six months to 
attend to the acclimation of some emigrants who had ar- 
rived here. He was stationed at Monrovia. Dr. Smith, who 
is stationed at Buchanan, has been twice to Greenville to at- 
tend on the acclimation of emigrants. In 1849-50, he was 
here five months. In 1854, he was here four months. Dr. 
Brown lived and* died here. He obtained his title of Dr. 
from being a clerk in an apothecary's shop in Balti;nore, but 
he had not sufficient medical knowledge to practice medi- 
cine. He died in 1855. The Po river, so called, may be bet- 
ter designated as Po lake. It is like Shepherd's lake in Mary- 



140 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

land county. It is eight miles long. It runs parallel with 
the sea coast, and a part of its banks is a part of the western 
boundary of Greenville. In the heavy rains of September, 
the water bursts open its outlet that is shut up with sand in 
the dry season, and its waters find their way into the Atlan- 
tic ocean. In the dry season it is again stopped up at its 
mouth. Sometimes the neighbors in its vicinity will open its 
passage in the dry season, and drain it of its water to take 
the fish in it. Food of a certain chai'acter is plent}', as cas- 
sada, which sold in 1856, the year of the war, for $1 per 
bushel, now it sells at seventy-five cents. Sweet potatoes, 
which sold in 1856, for $1 per bushel, now rarely sells for 
fifty cents. There are no oxen, nor a plough in the county. 
Nor is there a farm inclosed. I had to-day foi* dinner, the 
last I shall ever eat probably in this county, fresh beef, chick- 
ens, fresh fish, eddoes, and sweet potatoes. I learned to eat 
sweet potatoes at an age when we learn to know what is 
good to eat. And I believe the reader, by this time, will not 
question that I could have an abundant supply in Liberia. I 
could obtain only the exports of oil in this county. In 1856, 
there were eighteen thousand eight hundred and forty gal- 
lons exported. In 1857, twenty-six thousand eight hundred 
and fifty-three gallons, and three hundred bushels of palm 
kernels. We have alluded to the opposite shore of the Si- 
noe river at its mouth on the Blue Barre side. We stopped 
there to see its situation. After walking in difl^erent direc- 
tions over the land to see the face and soil of some one thou- 
sand acres, I was struck with the difference of the location 
of this land with that at Greenville. It was high rolling 
land with a good soil, and I should think, by digging, there 
would be good water. The sea beach is on its south-east 
border. It runs back to one of the little streams peculiar to 
this country; then another tract of land occurs stretching 
back to a swamp whose waters lead to a creek that empties 
into the Sinoe river. The land is a rich sandy loam in some 
places, and clay mixed with sand in other places. A num- 
ber of natives called fishermen live at this point. They had 
beans, cassada, sweet potatoes, melons, &c. growing, which 
indicated by their growth, good land. It is a far better place 
for a town than that of Greenville. I learned in Greenville 
that it was desired for a town before Greenville was com- 
menced, but the Blue Barre tribe would not permit the Libe- 
rians to settle on the land. It would be a wise measure to 
secure its possession at this time, even by having to indorse 
it as the payment of the $1,000. In this county there are 
eome very high hills back from the coast. They are put 
down on the chart at their hei"rhts: one is two hundred and 



LIBERIA, AS 1 FOUND IT. 141 

sixty feet, another two hundred and ninety feet, a third two 
hundred and sixty feet, a fourth two hundred feet, and a fifth 
one hundred and ninety feet. About fifteen mi.es north-eas- 
terly from the last knob, Mt. Sugar loaf, from its formation, 
is seven hundred and thirty feet. In this county is the 
Kroo country. The tribe in this county is not as large as 
other tribes are. The men give themselves more to a seafar- 
ing life than those of any other tribe on the coast. The 
chiefs of this tribe have faithfully kept their treaty with the 
Liberian Government. I went on board of the ship at 6 P, 
M., never expecting to be in this county again. It has been 
a visit of interest with me. Thermometer at 7 P. M. 82o. 
The ship soon got under way for Buchanan. The Doctor, at 
this place, taking passage to Monrovia to get to Cageyburg 
to attend to the emigrants there. 

January 22. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 78o. There had 
been a hard rain in the night, with much thunder. The sun 
came out clear. The wind is very light. The coast present- 
ed nothing different from the general appearance it bears for 
hundreds of miles. The palm tree and the cotton tree car- 
ry themselves high over the other trees. So light had been 
the wind, and so strong the current against us, that it was 
a quesiion whether, in our beating about, we were three 
miles above where we were last evening, or three miles be- 
low^ it. At 7 P. M. the thermometer was 82o. 

January 23. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 81°. The wind 
was light, but more favorable. All day we were called to 
exercise patience, and we retired to bed wishing we had 
more of it. Thermometer at 7 P. M. 81°. 

January 24. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 82°. Expected we 
should reach Buchanan by 12, noon; but did not cast anchor 
ofT of 

BUCHANAN 
until 9 P. M. Thermometer at 7 P. M. 81°. 

January 25. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 79o. The morning 
was cloudy, and there had been rain the past night. The 
breakers on the St. John's river w^ere in full sight. I went 
on shore to finish up my examinations of the county of Bas- 
sa. There is no evidence, under any aspect of Buchanan^ 
that it is one tov/n. Not one street runs from one ward to 
the other ward. Each ward was built up distinct, as it were, 
because each ward was a distinct town, Bassa and Fishtown. 
Upper Buchanan has one hundred and thirty-six tax payers, 
and lower Buchanan has sixty-five. In looking over the tax 
list, there was a difference in the estimated wealth of the 
two wards. In lower Buchanan, the tax payers paid a tax 
from 17 cents to $1 96, except one person, who paid a tax of 



142 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

$4 20. Only seven of the tax payers paid from $1 50 to 
$1 90. In upper Buchanan, the tax ranged from 15 cents to 
$12 55. One person paid $12 15; two paid over $9; nine 
paid from $3 to $7. The amount of property assessed in 
both wards was $23,700. The lowest estimate of a lot was 
$40. Outside of the town were farm lots of five and ten 
acres. But four families lived on farm lands in this town- 
ship. Several persons living in the town, went out and 
worked on their farm lands. A few of the townsmen had 
bought land of the government, and let it lay unimproved, 
for the rise of the market. There are some houses in upper 
Buchanan which cost from $800 to $4,000, while many of the 
others cost from $45 to $200. The richest man in the town was 
ec^timat^d at $15,000; one at $7,000; two at $3,000: two at 
$1,000, and eight at $500; while many went down to $45, leav- 
ii\g out those who had nothing to be estimated but their hands, 
which ought to have earned, by work, something handsome" 
to show. But I must say 1 did not see more of this class in 
this town than I should see in other towns, in proportion to 
the number of persons. I saw a very valuable steam saw 
mill going the same way that that at Greenville is going. It 
is owned in part here, and in part in the United States. I 
think it is very probable the United States partners are silent 
partners. It is not pleasant to see such a waste. The whip 
saw is the great reliance of the county for lumber. Nine of 
them find work. Logs can be bought at Buchanan, from fif- 
teen to twenty inches in diameter and twelve feet long, for 
55 to 75 cents each, according to the kind of wood. Lumber 
is sold at the prices it is sold at in Moni'ovia. 1 saw a jack, 
the only one in Liberia. He was biought from the intei-ior, 
and was owned by President Benson. He was ten years old. 
He measured three ieet ibur inches high, and three feet ten 
inches long, from the centre of the eai's to the tail. He had 
been tried, but did not breed; and now he has no opportuni- 
ty, for there is neither mare nor jenny in the county. There 
are two mules — one a very good animal; but both are used 
tor the saddle, and not for work. Nor was there a yoke of 
oxen in the county. Some persons had had them, but fear- 
ing they might die, eat them. Certainly if the catUe can 
live long enough to be raised and continue living, why not 
break them to the yoke, and get the benefit of a good crop, 
which will more than compensate for their loss by death, if 
th»-y must die by working them. There aie sixty head of 
cattle in the county, and a number of hogs, and sheep and 
goats. The temperature of the water in the spiings and 
wells was 76°. There are three schools in the town. I found 
the children well dressed for school, and showed a readiness 



LIBERIA 



AS I FCWD IT. ]43 



to learn as other children of their age. Some of the scholars 
were in the higher branches of study in English. They have 
a Young Men's Literary Association (incorporated) in this 
town. Upper Buchanan has tliree hundred and filty souls. 
The number of natives in the county is estimated at fifteen 
thousand. The militia of the county numbers two hundred 
and lifty men. There are nine cannon, of different weights, 
placed in the different settlements tor defense. They keep 
on hand eight barrels of powder and ten thousand pounds of 
cannon bcills. There has been no war in this county since 
1851. In that war, nine Liberians were killed. Ffteen na- 
tives have become citizens of the Republic, who live in this 
county. Of the one thousand muskets Liberia received fi'om 
Fr.'ince, two hundred of them were given to this county. In 
1857, there were live cases of grand larceny, and one case of 
infanticide. The woman was sentenced to work two years 
in the chain gang. I met the lawyer who defended the poor 
distressed native wife, and inquired what had been done with 
her. He told me she had fled; where it was not known. She 
certainly is a very determinate woman. I doubt whether 
the doctor is still attending on her. I dined to-day with a 
merchant who emigrated from North Carolina. He had ac- 
cumulated a handsome estate. We had for dinnej-, iresli 
beef, ham, chickens and cassada, eddoes and sweet potatoes. 
Pies and preserves w^ere our dessert, and ale and water our 
drinks. His wife came from the estate of Dv. Hawes, of 
Virginia; and the good woman had got into the habit of pre- 
senting her husband with a child every year. From the town 
clerk's books. I found in 1857 there had been in Buchanan, 
both wards, eighteen births and thirty-one deaths, [a the 
collector's office I obtained more full information of the im- 
ports and exports of the county than I had obtained in either 
of the other three counties. The imports at this port of 
entry, in the gross amounts, were as follows: 

1854. 

English, - - $22,680 32 

United States, 33,231 32 

German, 9,3yt:) 85 

$65,309 49 
1855. 

American, $ 22,975 09 

English, 12,973 11 

German, ' 19,907 73 

French, 737 50 

$56,593 47 



144 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

1856. 

American, $15,528 74 

English, 6,451 74 

German, 16,407 58 

French, 3,600 00 



^41,988 06 



1857. 

American, $18,919 64 

English, 7,960 15 

German, ,- - 7,402 44 

French, ---..':. 74 00 



$34,356 23 

It will be seen there is a falling off in the whole amount 
of imports; bat the least falling off is in the American goods. 
A trader informed me that the English, German and French 
traded more below Cape Palmas than they did years back, 
as the palm oil was not obtained so readily in Bassa county 
as it was formerly. 

The exports for the corresponding years was as follows : 

1854. 
456 tons of camwood. ^ 

131,887 gallons of palm oil. 
126 pounds of ivory. 
2,120 pounds of coffee.— All valuad at $71,623. 

1855. 
337 tons of camwood. 
80,740 gallons of palm oil. 

761 pounds of ivory.— All valued at $56,000. 

1856. 
381 tons of camwood. 
53,998 gallons of palm oil. 
296 pounds of ivory. 
1,492 pounds of coffee.— All valued at $41,477 63. 

1857. 
377 tons of camwood. 
32,515 gallons of palm oil. 
8,980 pounds of coffee.— All valued at $34,884 37. 
It will be seen that there is an increase in the quantity of 
coffee exported, but a falling off in the shipment of palm oil. 
It will be seen, except the years 1854 and 1857, the imports 
exceeded the exports. 

There are two reasons assigned for the falling off in the 
palm oil trade. 1. The natives having failed in the two last 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 145 

years to raise their usual quantit}' of rice, by reason of the 
uncommon dearth in Liberia in 1856, they used so much of 
the pahn tree cabbage and palm nuts for food, that there were 
not nuts enough at hand to make their usual quantity of oil. 
This may be so, and it may be not; for before the dearth in 
1854, in this county, the natives brought in 131,887 gallons, 
and in 1855, but 80,741 gallons — a difference of 51,146 gal- 
lons. 2. The trader not getting a full cargo of oil from this 
port and the trading towns in the county, would go to Sinoe 
and fill out his cargo, and clear his vessel at the port of Si- 
noe; but as the same occurrence could take place in Sinoe 
county, and the vessel come to the trading points in Bassa 
county to fill up and then clear out at Bassa, this would very 
much neutralize the force of this reason. But the falling off is 
general in Liberia; while it is a fact that the number of the 
palm trees can be increased yearly in the land, with little at- 
tention, and should bring in other and more systematic la- 
borers, viz: Liberians, to increase its quantity for exportation. 
The whole number of inhabitants in this county may be put 
down at one thousand and fourteen, Americo Liberians. 
There is but one white person in the county, the Episcopal 
clergyman referred to as living on Mission creek. 

As I am now to leave this county, I would not wdsh to make 
an impression on the mind of the reader that this county 
should hereafter have no emigrants advised to settle in it. 
I would most candidly say, I would not advise an emigrant 
leaving the United States to locate or acclimate at Edina, 
Bassa, or Fishtown. A healthier location can be found up 
the river. And if the emigrant has money to enter into the 
trade of oil and camwood, (for no county in Liberia has such 
a quantity of the wood in its forests as this county has,) after 
his acclimation, he could go to one of the places on the sea 
beach. But good trade will bring articles to be sold at any 
good reasonable distance. I returned to the ship, and found 
several bags of coffee on board which were designed for the 
friends of the shippers in the United States. The thermome- 
ter at 7 P. M. 82°. When we weighed anchor for Monrovia, 
I cast my lot in my state room for sleep. 

January 26. Thermometer 82° at 7 A. M. Our progress 
during the night had been slow, though we had had the land 
and sea breeze. How light these winds are sometimes 
when a ship's crew want to go ahead ! At 11 A. M'. Cape 
Mesurado hove in sight; and at 1 P. M., we saw Monrovia. 
Soon we were moored off of the town for the last time of my 
tour to Liberia. We were gratified in seeing the American 
naval ship Vincennes lying at anchor, with that valued flag 
spread to the breeze, that told us we had protecting friends 
10 



146 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

even so far from home. A Dutch ship, a French schoon- 
♦er, a Baltimore ketch, and the Liberia naval schooner Lark, 
.were lying here at anchor. The Lark was a present from 
the British Government to Liberia. Her flag had six red 
stripes, with five white stripes alternately displayed longi- 
tudinally. In the upper angle of the flag next to the spear is 
a square blue ground, covering in depth five inches, in the 
centre of which is a white star. At 3 P. M. I visited 

MONROVIA. 
I made arrangements with President Benson to select for 
the Kentuck}^ Colonization Society four miles square of 
land where I thought best. I came across some fine citron. 
The citron grows on a shrub the size ot a large quince tree, 
and is a good bearer. In shape, the citron is like a large 
bell pear, but larger in every proportion. The one 1 had, 
weighed five pounds. It is acid in its raw state. The rind 
is thick. It makes a delicious preserve. I had my attention 
drawn to the laws of Liberia in regard to navigation, com- 
merce, and revenue, in a conversation with a trader. These 
laws are very explicit, and show the measures taken by Li- 
beria to raise a revenue. Her own vessels, which sail outside 
of her rivers, being over five tons, are required to have a 
register, and must be owned by a Liberian. The vessel pays 
a tax of seventy-five cents per ton per annum. She can 
trade coastwise only by taking out a license. For the whole- 
sale trade, the license is $15; for retailing, it is $12. Afor- 
eigner arriving from a foreign port, must enter his vessel and 
cargo at some established port of entry in the Republic. The 
cargo can be landed in whole or in part. If the master or 
owner of the vessel wishes to trade at points beyond the lim- 
its of the ports of entry of the Republic, he has, before he 
commences to unlade any part of his cargo, to give to the 
Collector a written statement of his intention to trade coast- 
wise, stating the names of the places he intends to trade at. 
He pays seventy-five cents per ton per year, and also ob- 
tains a license for each place he trades at. One-third of the 
.assessment of the tariff' duties are paid down, and the re- 
maining two-thirds are secured to the Government by bonds 
to be paid in equal installments of sixty and ninety days af- 
ter date. All goods or merchandize landed in violation of 
these provisions are forfeited, and the master or owner so 
clanding them is, upon conviction, fined $1000 for each and 
>every such offense; distress of weather, or "some unavoida- 
ble accident" alone, can exempt from a fine and the forfeiture 
A)f goods, on conviction. No goods can be landed by any 
foreign vessel from a foreign port before she has come to 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 147 

the proper place to discharge her cargo, according to her 
clearance papers. No trade is allowed in the harbors of the 
Republic, between foreigners and foreigners; nor between 
foreigners and Liberians, without accounting to the Collector 
of the port for the duties arising on the goods traded. The 
regular impost, or customs on goods, wares, or merchandize, 
brought into the Republic, is six per cent., except in cases of 
direct consignment from abroad to citizens of the Republic, 
or other persons residing within the jurisdiction of the same; 
then two per cent, is added to the six per cent. duty. This 
two per cent, duty is called extra duty. If the goods are not 
to be landed, but are to be sold under a coast license, then 
the duty is only six per centum. Export duties are one cent 
on each gallon of palm oil; five per cent, on gold and silver; 
and two per cent, on all other articles of export. The an- 
chorage and light house duties on foreign vessels, are $15. 
It is made unlawful for any citizen, or any other person with- 
in the Republic, to sell or barter any goods or merchandize, 
or vendible property, or transact any business for any foreign- 
er, without first obtaining a commission merchant's license* 
That license cannot comprehend but one place of business* 
A special license may be had for as many places as he pleas- 
es. A laborer, mechanic, and farmer, may exchange the 
products of his labor for articles of the trader that are ne- 
cessary for the consumption of his family; but the exchange 
must be made at the home of the individual making it. The 
design of the law is to compel foreigners engaged in trade 
with Liberia, to employ a Liberian broker or commission 
merchant to sell his goods for him. In his own name, a for- 
eigner cannot take out a license to sell; nor can he keep the 
books in his own name, or give a receipt for cash paid for 
goods in his own name. All the business is done in the name 
of the Liberian employed by the foreigner. The owner, if 
present, is the clerk. What If the Liberian should play the 
rogue, and bring forward the license, and the books to show 
he is owner of the "lock, stock, and barrel?" One thing is 
certain, no one can pay but to him^ who has bought goods of 
the store. The compensation given to the broker is five per 
cent. The foreigner pays all the expenses of rent, clerk 
hire, &c. Returned to the ship, and found the thermometer 
at 7 P. M. was 82°. 

January 27. The thermometer at 7 A. M. was 82°. I went 
on shore at 

MONROVIA, 
to gain information in regard to Liberia's civil and judicial 
arrangements. I learnt that the Liberia Herald, a paper 



148 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

published monthly in this town for many years, had been 
stopped. It became a warm party paper in a former Presi- 
dential canvass, and at its close, could not sustain itself for 
want of subscribers. The press is used for public and pri- 
vate bujriness printing. It is contemplated to start a paper 
that shall not be a party paper. There are eight white per- 
sons residing in this county. Seven of them live in Monrovia, 
viz: two Presbyterian Missionaries, three merchants, (two 
German and one American,) and two consuls, one English, 
the other American. The eighth, a female teacher, lives at 
White Plains. Two of the merchants were Germans, and 
the other was from the United States. One consul was English, 
and the other American. Liberia has made treaties with 
England, France, and the Free Hanseatic Republics of Lu- 
bick, Bremen, and Hamburg. By these treaties, Liberia 
grants such freedom in commercial intercourse to the citizens 
of those countries, that they can reside in th« ports of entry in 
the Republic, or at any place within the limits of the same, 
rent houses in their own names, open such for mercantile 
business, transport their goods, merchandise and the products 
the^^ have purchased, without the intervention of brokers. 
No hindrance or molestation is to be put in their way. They 
are not to be prejudiced in their trade by an}^ monopoly, or 
privilege to others in buying and selling. They are to have 
full and entire protection for their persons and property, 
Avhile trading among the natives, as if they were Liberians. 
But the citizens of nations (not in treaty with Liberia have 
no protection of their persons and property guaranteed to 
them while trading with the natives; nor any assurance that 
nothing prejudicial to their trade with Liberians or natives, 
shall be done by any monopoly or privilege to others. The 
English, the French, the Germans, can trade with the assur- 
ance ot Liberian patronage; but the citizens of the land that 
gave to Liberia her citizens and her name, and upon whom 
alone she has to depend for future citizens by emigration, 
must do their business by, and in the name of brokers, or a 
commission merchant: or, in other words, pay five per cent, 
on every dollar's worth of goods they sell to Liberians or na- 
tives. Is this a method devised to compel the United States 
Government to acknowdedge the independence of Liberia ? 
If any one has an idea that any one of the officers of the 
Colonization Society is or has been engaged in the Liberian 
trade, he can see that such officer has a fair prospect of an 
account in his ledger, of profit and loss. I dined with Mr. 
James to-day, whos(j table had the usual good things spread 
on it, that I had before found upon it. What good cooks 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 149 

they have in Liberia ! The thermometer on board ship at 7 
P.M. was 81°. 

January 2S. The thermometer at 7 A. M. 76^. There was 
a heavy rain, and ver}'^ heavy thunder, before day-break. I 
took a boat, and went up to Clay Ashland to make a further 
examination of land in that township in regard to having the 
Receptacles put up in some part of it. Many of the leading 
men in this township proposed to me that they would hold a 
public meeting in Clay Ashland, and settle on some propo- 
sitions to be presented to me in Monrovia to-morrow, in re- 
gard to having the Receptacles put up in this township. This 
was a feature of society that I learnt was an ordinary meas- 
ure in the settlements when any public measure called the 
attention of the people to its consideration. It was a plan 
that gave an opportunity of bringing out citizens to exercise 
a public influence that it is desirable for communities to have. 
It is true it may be abused, yet communities, as a whole, 
will thus be able to judge who of their number are judicious 
and wise counsellors. I dined to-day with the Rev. Mr. 
Erskine, a Presbyterian minister. He is a black man. We 
had for dinner, palm butter, with chickens, and fresh fish, 
with different vegetables that are good and nourishing. Re- 
turned to the ship at 9 P. M. and learnt that the thermometer 
at 7 P. M. was 81°. 

January 29. Thermometer at 7 A. M. was 82°. I met in 
Monrovia a number of the people from the Kentucky settle- 
ment, who presented proposals to me that they had selected 
two carpenters of responsibility, who were of sufficient wealth 
individually to enter into bonds to put up the buildings on 
any ground I should select in their township, by the 15th day 
of April, 1858, taking the materials from the wharf in Mon- 
rovia, at the same price that similar buildings were put up 
in Greenville; and no payment for their work be made unless 
the Agent of the American Colonization Society was satis- 
fied that the contract was full}' and faithfully complied with. 
The cost of putting up each building in Greenville, was $78. 
This covered the putting up of stone pillars three feet high, 
and the painting of the building with two coats of paint. 
This amount had been stated to the persons offering to make 
the contract. I allude to this matter to show that contracts 
can be made for putting up buildings in Liberia, by persons 
in this countr}^, with the prospect of having them fulfilled. 
I agreed to meet the persons in Clay Ashland, and give 
them a final answer. I dined to-day with President Benson. 
There were some thirty persons at the table. Four of the 
guests were whites, the rest were Liberians. And the Li- 
berian guests presented a good specimen of the ministry, the 



150 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

bar, the mercantile, the legislative, the executive, and medi- 
cal portion of the land. But I also think there were others 
who were absent who would be as good representatives of 
the same departments referred to. Of course the great sub- 
ject of conversation would be Liberia in the sight of an ob- 
serving white man. The table was a well furnished table. 
There was ham, turkey, shoat, roast beef, chickens, duck, 
chicken pie, rice, banana, plaintain, cassada, eddoes, sweet 
potatoes, and pies of the paw paw, and other tropical fruits, 
with a good supply of preserves. Our drink w^as water, lem- 
onade, and wine, of which last article I was glad to notice 
but few of the guests drank. All the articles on the table 
were of Liberian growth but the ham and wine. The hall, 
the parlor, and the dining room w^ere well furnished, and I 
do not doubt the more private rooms were equally as w^ell 
furnished. It was the first instance in my life of dining with 
such a dining party. I had my reflections at my position ; but 
I certainly saw nothing but polite bearing on the part of the 
Liberia guests. They are the lords of the soil, and a white 
man is invited to their tables according to their estimate of his 
standing. It is the same principle that governs us in our 
land in passing by the black man as our equal and associate, 
I learnt that the eight persons who came on shore from the 
ship to reside here, have been sick, but are recovering from 
the attack of the fever. The thermometer on board ship at 7 
P. M. was 820. 

January 30. The thermometer at 7 A. M. 82°. I took a 
boat to visit the Kentucky Settlement. As I passed up the St. 
Paul's river, now familiar to my eye, I found my attention 
was still attracted to its scenery. It is certainly the best part 
of improved Liberia, taken as a whole. In thinking over the 
productions of Liberia, it occurred to me that 1 had not seen 
any hemp or flax growing here. It may be that both or one 
is raised, but I have not heard of its being done. And as no 
premium was off'ered at the fair for either article, it is pre- 
sumed neither article is raised here. There is a kind of grass 
grown here that is used for makins" grass ropes, and which 
the natives use to make bags for light articles to be carried 
in. Liberia imports her rope. I was in the woods in the 
Kentucky Settlement until 4 P. M. 1 selected ten acres of 
ground on a rise of land, with running water at its base, for 
the Receptacles to be put upon. There was stone at hand 
for buiding purposes. The object of selecting ten acres, was 
to have room for other similar buildings to be put up at a 
future time; and to have land on which the various vegeta- 
ble productions of Liberia might be cultivated by the labor 
of the emigrants who occupied the rooms during six months. 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 151 

I am now of the opinion a building of one room 30 by 15, 
one story high, should also be put up on the ground. It would 
be for a hospital. When any one was sick, he could be 
placed in the room, where the nurse and the sick would be 
able to do and receive what would not so comfortably and 
conveniently be enjoyed in the room where the whole family 
resided. For clearing an acre of this land. I agreed to give 
nine dollars. A quarter of a mile farther, I selected a body 
of well timbered rolling land, four miles square, and con- 
tracted with a county surveyor to run off carefully and cor- 
rectly the four miles, and then survey off a half mile into 
lots of five and ten acres, throwing the five acre lots con- 
tiguous, and the ten acre lot next, and so on, numbering the 
lots 1, 2, 3, &c., giving a proper avenue between the lots, so 
that a settler can draw his land, five or ten acres as the case 
may be, having an opportunity reserved for him to add by 
purchase, five acres to his five or ten acres drawn. For sur- 
veying the lots, 18 cents per acre was agreed upon, the sur- 
veyor being at all the expense of making the survey, and- 
sending a draft of the survey to me by mail. The Agent of 
the American Society in Monrovia was to decide that the 
survey was done according to the contract. The money for 
the work was left with President Benson, to pay it to the 
contractors when the Agent certified to him the work was 
done right. 

The land had living water on it, but the settlers, in gener- 
al, would have to depend on wells. The distance of the 
land from the St. Paul's river, is a mile and a half, and from 
Clay Ashland, two miles and a half. The selected tract is 
farther up the river than Clay Ashland. The whole cost of 
each building, when put up, and painted, including the clear- 
ing of the acre of ground, will be $450. The freight from 
Baltimore to Liberia, the American Society did not charge. 
Each building is 30 by 14. The entrance to the second story 
is by stairs on the outside. In selecting the Kentucky Settle- 
ment for the Receptacles instead of Harrisburg, I was gov- 
erned chiefly by the disadvantages of the falls to Harrisburg 
in cutting off' a good landing place for the town. Clay Ash- 
land being on the river, having a good landing place, secures 
to the Kentucky township all the advantages which a town 
can give to a township. From all that I learnt from differ- 
ent persons who had visited Careysburg, and knew its bear- 
ings from the St. Paul's river, I found by drawing a line from 
the selected ground for the Receptacles, due east and west, 
Careysburg would not be six miles, if that, north of the line. 
But as the coast runs northwest and southeast, it makes Ca- 
reysburg only 25 miles north of Marshall, which is 30 miles 



152 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

below Monrovia on the sea coast. My impressions were, 
while in Liberia, and they are the same since my return to 
the United States, from the statements of nine Liberians 
who had been to Careysburg, that if a line was drawn from 
Harrisburg parallel with the sea coast, Careysburg might be 
one mile further in the interior than Harrisburg, and possibly 
five miles further in the interior by that line than the spot 
I selected for the Receptacles to be placed on. Of this I am 
fully satisfied that emigrants can acclimate with much safe- 
ty to life and health at either of the places. But I do not 
believe a person acclimating far back in the interior will ex- 
empt himself from an attack of the "fever," if he returns to 
the coast to live. Nature seems always to call for a con- 
geniality of the human system for a residence in an exchang- 
ed climate. Locality is to be considered in meeting this de- 
mand, yet the change must be, more or less, prepared for. 
It will be remembered, the cattle from the interior have to 
acclimate to live on the coast. Here I would notice in re- 
gard to the ant called the driver. I had noticed this ant at 
Cape Mount, and in all my visits on shore; in the woods, and 
in the cleared land; in sandy soil, and clay soil. I may be 
incorrect, but it is my impressien that in proportion to the 
improvements of the land, these ants are seen less in im- 
proved lands than in the woods and newly cleared land; and 
less on sandy land than on clay land. These ants go in a 
long train, some one hundred and fifty yards long, with larger 
ants of the same familj^ arranged all along at proper dis- 
tances on each side of the train, as officers of different grades. 
The train moves in rapid motion, as if bent on some known 
expedition. They will, if your foot is placed on the train, still 
move on over the foot, with such numbers as to raise that 
foot by their bites, thus suffering the loss of those carried off 
by the removal of the foot, while the train goes on in its reg- 
ular march. It was said of the leviathan, " lay thine hand 
upon him, remember the battle, do no more." Their bite is 
very severe. I have seen sand thrown up in a pile to turn 
the line of march from an entrance into a house, but it was 
a futile embankment. They go in thousands. They are so 
well understood in their habits that they are allowed to take 
their own way. If they enter the house, they go through it 
and cleanse it of every vermin in it. Prudence gives them 
the occupancy of the house, whether the visit is made in the 
day or night; and they do their work up quick, and go on 
their way. 1 did not fear them, for I had but to step over 
them as I crossed their path. They molested me not when- 
ever I stood and watched their ways. On my return to Clay 
Ashland, it was late, but I had to stop for diimer. I dined on 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. v 153 

fresh fish, chickens, bacon, cassada, and sweet potatoes. 
How careful "my colored brethren" are of me. I reached 
the ship at 9 P. M. The thermometer at 7 P. M. was 82°. 

January 31. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 81°. This being 
the Sabbath day, I went on shore and preached in the Pres- 
byterian church. I dined with a Methodist minister, from 
Norfolk, Va., who, in his early days, did much work as a 
carpenter, on my father's estate. He is a very useful and 
active minister, and an influential citizen. He is worth from 
$10,000 to $12,000. The Secretary of State, who is an elder 
in the Presbyterian church, dined with us. We had for din- 
ner, ham, roast chickens, ducks, fresh beef, with a great va- 
riety of African vegetables. Our conversation brought up 
the social and religious condition of colored persons in Libe- 
ria and the United States. Both of the persons could speak 
intelligibly from experience. I was struck with the earnest 
and decisive manner of the Secretary's declaration to me : 
"Mr. Cowan, I am thankful that I came to Liberia. I am 
proud to be called a citizen of Liberia." He is right; and I 
said in my heart and mind, if I were a colored man, I would 
make this land my land, and its privileges my privileges. I 
attended a most interesting Sabbath school of native chil- 
dren in the Presbyterian church, conducted by Rev. Mr. Wil- 
liams, a white Presbyterian minister, living in Monrovia. 
Returned to the ship, never expecting to attend public wor- 
ship again in this place. Thermometer at 7 P. M. 82°. 

February 1. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 77°, I had the dif- 
ferent parts of the Receptacles placed together in bundles, 
and landed at the wharf in Monrovia. I delivered them up 
to the contractors, to be put up in the Kentucky settlement. 
I obtained from President Benson the loan of the census of 
Mesurado county, and he furnished me with a copy of the 
Treasurer's annual report. Neither of these documents had 
been printed. I dined with Mr. Dennis, who gave me an ex- 
cellent dinner, such as I eat the first day I dined in Monro- 
via. I find that the basis of the civil laws of Liberia is such 
parts of the common law as is set forth in Blackstone's Com- 
mentaries, and are applicable to the situation of the people, 
except they are changed by the laws passed and in force, or 
shall be hereafter enacted by the Legislature of Liberia. If 
a person leaves Liberia with the intention not to return, he 
forfeits his claim to the land he holds a certificate for, that he 
shall have a deed for it when he has made the specified im- 
provements stated in the certificate. If he has obtained a 
title to it, on his removal he can sell the land to a Liberian; 
or if he wishes, he can hold his land title while he makes a 
visit to the United States. If, while absent from Liberia, he 



154 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

« 
becomes a citizen of the another country, and returns back 
to Liberia, he must take the oath of allegiance to Liberia to 
have the right of citizenship in Liberia. 

The courts in Liberia are designed to meet the wants of 
the people in every circumstance, to protect their rights, and 
mete out to them justice. They are the Magistrate's Court, 
the Probate and Monthly Court, Quarter Sessions Court, and 
Admiralty Court, and the Supreme Court. There is also the 
Native Commission Court. This court is composed of three 
Commissioners, one of them to be a surveyor. Their jurisdic- 
tion is w^hat pertains to the purchase of territory of the na- 
tives residing beyond the territory of Liberia, the receiving 
preemptive rights to their lands, and the purchase of their 
lands. We have referred to the court to settle difficulties 
arising among natives by their application for its decision. 
The Magistrate's Court has its powers defined. The Magis- 
trate can issue warrants in the name of the Republic, to 
command the seizure and arrest of an}^ felon or violator of 
the public peace, and commit the person to jail until a legal 
action can be had in the premises. If the offense is not capi- 
tal, and the accused can give bond and sufficient security to 
abide his trial, he is not imprisoned. The Magistrate can 
have jurisdiction out of court, without a jury, to try all ac- 
tions for debt not above thirty dollars, except a specific per- 
formance, injunction and ejectment, and actions for injuries 
to the reputation or domestic relations; all cases of petit 
larceny, all actions of trover, trespass, &c., where the amount 
in litigation is not over ten dollars, and all petty infractions 
of the peace, where the fine is not more than ten dollars, and 
to preserve order, &c. On all judgments rendered he shall, 
when required by the defendant, and sufficient security is 
given, allow five months to pay all sums of $20; under $20, 
and over $15, four months; under $15, and over $10, three 
months; under $10, and over $5, two months; under $5, and 
over $2, one month, and all sums under $2, ten days. At 
the expiration of the time, as the sum may be, if payment is 
not made, an execution may be issued immediately against 
the defendant and his security; and the goods or chattels 
levied on after ten days notice, are to be sold to pay the debt 
and costs. An appeal can be taken from every decision of a 
justice of the peace, to the next inferior court having juris- 
diction at the place. No judgment of a justice of the peace 
shall be set aside for error in form; but all appeals from jus- 
tices shall be taken up by the court to which they are made 
anew, and upon the merits of the case, and such judgment 
given as the justices ought to have given. The Probate and 
Monthly Court is composed of a chairman and two justices of 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 155 

the peace, and meets monthly. It has the management and 
care of estates of orphans not otherwise provided for by 
law, and of ordinary wills proven in court to be recorded. 
Contested wills are sent to the Court of Commons Pleas, to 
be tried by jury, subject to appeal to the Supreme Court. 
Property can be willed by the owner of it, as he judges best 
to dispose of it. His natural heirs are his children, or near- 
est of kin. wheresoever they may live, and can present suit- 
able vouchers that they can legally claim the property. The 
widow, bylaw, is entitled to one-third of the real estate du- 
ring her natural life, and to one-third of the personal estate, 
which she shall hold in her own right, subject to alienation 
by her, by devise or otherwise. A widow may recover her 
dower in ejectment. When a person dies without a will, and 
leaves no heirs in Liberia, the perishing property is sold by 
order of the Probate Court, and the money, after paying the 
legal expenses, is deposited in the Treasury, subject to the 
lawful claim of a foreign heir. No person is allowed to 
meddle or interfere with the estate of any person dying in- 
testate, (except to take true and correct inventories of all 
the real and personal estate) unless authorized so to do by 
the Court of Probate for the county wherein the intestate re- 
sided. Any person so doing becomes liable for the payment 
of all the debts due by the deceased, and for the respective 
shares of all the natural or legal heirs to such estate. When 
the person shall die intestate, the court appoints the admin- 
istrator, who gives bond and security in double the estimated 
value of said intestate's estate, for the faithful discharge of 
all the duties connected therewith. The compensation al- 
lowed the administrator is five percent, on the estate. If the 
administrator performs his duty in such a manner as to have 
occasioned loss to the estate, the party sustaining the loss can 
sue upon the bond, in any court competent to try the same. 
In the recess of the court, the chairman of the court may 
grant letters of administration. This court has also original 
jurisdiction in all cases of debt of more than $30 to $200; in 
all cases of misdemeanor, equal to petit larceny; in all actions 
of trespass, trover, slander, &:c., where the amount in litiga- 
tion is not more than $20 nor less than $10; all infractions 
of the peace where the fine is more than $10, and not less 
than $20, and is competent to judge both the law and the 
facts in such cases. Said court can judicially examine a 
criminal committed by a justice of the peace, by examiningthe 
evidence only on the side of the State, to decide whether the 
accused may be discharged, or shall, on giving good security 
for his appearance, be sent on to trial in the Quarter Session 
Court. The sheriff of the county is the ministerial officer of 



156 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

this court. He serves all writs, takes bail, and carries the 
judgment of the court into execution. The register records 
all documents and instruments relating to the security and 
title of public or individual property, government grants, 
patents, matter of record, and to which the Republic shall 
be a party. He is to register papers of record from the 
county clerk, and file them in alphabetical order, and when 
a volume is full, it is to be delivered by him to the Secretary 
of State for preservation among the archives of the Repub- 
lic. The chairman of this court cannot exercise the func- 
tions nor perform the duties of a justice of the peace. His du- 
ties are confined to the Monthly Court. This court meets in 
Mesurado county the first Monday in every month; in Bassa, 
the second Monday; in Since, the third Monday, and in Mary- 
land, the first Monday. The Court of Common Pleas, or 
Quarter Sessions, has one Judge, who holds the court once 
in three months, in the county he resides. His salary is $200 
a year. This court has trial of prisoners sent from the 
Monthly Court, and all presentments or indictments which 
may be found by the Grand Jury. It has power to impannel 
grand and petit juries; it has original jurisdiction in all cases 
of debt over $200; of crimes and misdemeanors above the 
degree of petit larceny; of all infractions of the peace, and 
when the fine is over $20, or the damages claimed are more 
than $20. It has appellate jurisdiction in all cases going up 
from the Monthly Court. The sheriff of the count}^ is the 
ministerial officer of this court while transacting the judicial 
business of the county. This court, as well as the Supreme 
Court, has full power to hear and determine all disputes about 
the distribution of moneys arising from sheriffs or marshal's 
sales, according to law and equity; but the persons interested 
in the distribution must have notice to appear before the de- 
cision of the Courtis made. So in the case of disputes about 
the validity of titles to real estates, this court has also the 
power to decide in regard to frauds or fraudulent double con- 
veyance of an estate, and to hear and determine all claims 
for land from the government. It has also original juris- 
diction in all cases of admiralty, and of seizure under the 
navigation, commerce and revenue laws of the Republic, 
which embrace violations of any treaty, crimes committed 
on the high seas, all cases of piracies according to the law 
of nations, and all things properly belonging to a Court of 
Admiralty. The court can set but two weeks to transact its 
business. There can be an appeal to the Supreme Court in 
all cases decided by this court, with or without the interven- 
tion of a jury, if desired by a party agrieved by its decision. 
This court meets in Mesurado county the second Monday in 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 157 

March, June, September and December in every year; in 
Basisa county, on the fourth Monday of these months; in Si- 
noe county, on the first Monday in February, May, August, 
and November in each year; and in MaryJand county, the 
second Monday of these months. 

The Supreme Court consists of a Chief Justice and two 
Judges of two County Courts of Common Pleas. The Judge 
of the Court of Common Pleas serves for two years. One 
Judge goes out every year, so as to have every year one new 
Judge on the bench. The Chief Justice, through the chair- 
man of the Monthly Court, notifies the Judge of the Court of 
Common Pleas to occupy the next vacancy in the court, taking 
the counties in rotation. If the Chief Justice is interested in 
a suit before the court, then three Judges of the Quarter Ses- 
sions Court compose the court; and if a Judge of the Court 
of Quarter Sessions is interested in a suit, another Judge of 
a like court shall set in his place. The Supreme Court sets 
in Monrovia on the second Monday in January, annually, 
until the business of the court is finished. The salary of the 
Chief Justice is ^200 a year. The Judges of all the courts 
hold their office during good behaviour, but may be removed 
by the President, on the address of two- thirds of ^both houses 
for that purpose, or by impeachment and conviction thereof. 
The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in cases affect- 
ing public ministers and consuls, and those to which a county 
is a party. It has appellate jurisdiction both as to law and 
fact, with the exceptions the Legislature shall make. 

The trial of mere fact is by a jury of twelve men, if re- 
quested by either party before a court, and the matter in dis- 
pute is over $20 in value. All mixed questions of law and 
fact is by a jury, under the direction and assistance of the 
court. To plead or prosecute as an attorney before any of 
the courts, a person must obtain a license to do so. The fee 
for a license is $15. 

If any Liberian wishes to leave Liberia for the United 
States, or any part of the world, he obtains from the Secreta- 
ry of State, giving ten days notice of his intention to do so, 
a passport that states he is a citizen, of Liberia. The notice 
is required to prevent any fraud by leaving the country se- 
cretly. It would be a good law in the United States. 

No man's property can be taken Irom him for the public 
use without a just indemnification; and every person can em- 
ploy himself and his property in any honest business or pur- 
suit, though it be prejudicial, by way of rivalry or compe- 
tition, to another person. Every person that is injured, has 
his remedy therefor, by a due course of law; while every per- 
son charged with crime or misdemeanor has a right to a trial 



158 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

by jury, and to be heard in person or by cousel, or both: so 
that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, property, or 
privilege, but by the judgment of his peers, or the laws of 
the Republic. The printing press is free to every person, to 
examine the proceedings of the Legislature, or any branch of 
government. All have the free communication of thoughts 
and opinions, by speech, by w^riting, and by printing the 
same, subject only to the abuse of their liberty. Each indi- 
vidual has the right to worship God according to the dictates 
of his own conscience, without obstruction or molestation 
from others. In short, the laws aim to establish this great 
principle in the Republic: "All men are born equally free 
and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and in- 
alienable rights; among which are the rights of enjoying and 
defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing and pro- 
tecting his property, and ot pursuing and obtaining safety 
and happiness." No Liberian is allowed at any time to 
seize upon the property of a native without legal process, un- 
der the pretence that the said native is indebted to him. 
Such seizure is considered an act of robbery. Adulter3^ the 
seduction of a wife or daughter, and the breach of a con- 
tracf, engagement, or promise to marry, are injuries of a pe- 
culiar nature, and partake of a criminal character, and actions 
in regard to them partake of a criminal character. 

The militia of Liberia is thoroughly organized, consisting 
of four regiments. As we have stated in the procuress of our 
visits to different places, cannon, guns, powder and ball are 
kept constantly on hand in each county. The Commissary's 
Department is always prepared with a supply, in case of a 
war with the natives. Every able bodied male citizen, be- 
tween the ages of sixteen and fifty, except those exempted 
by law, is bound to do military duty. If the militia is called 
into active service, those serving in the ranks, have $8 per 
month, and a pint and a half of rice, and a half pound of 
beef, or something that is equivalent, per day. The officers, 
from the Corporal to the Brigadier General, have from $10 to 
$40 per month, with rations, as the office may be. The mi- 
litia of the Republic number about sixteen hundred and fifty. 

The laws in regard to slavery are very stringent. No 
citizen, or other person coming into or residing in the Repub- 
lic, can build, fit or equip, or own any vessel, or act as agent 
of any vessel, for the purpose of carrying on the slave trade, 
or abetting it in any way. Nor can any person, citizen or 
stranger, knowingl}^ take on board, receive, or transport from 
one place to another, any African held as a slave, or intend- 
ed to be enslaved; nor can any citizen, or person residing in 
Liberia, go on board of a vessel to be employed, which is in 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 159 

the slave trade; nor can any citizen of the Republic volun- 
tarily serve on board of any foreign vessel employed in the 
slave trade; nor can any citizen, or other person residing in 
Liberia act as an agent, or enter into the employ or the ser- 
vice of any one acting or engaged in the slave trade; nor can 
any citizen of Liberia be found in the neighborhood of any 
slave establishment without being deemed guilty of an in- 
fraction of the laws of Liberia against the existence of slave- 
ry, without he can give good reasons for being so found. 
The penalty of the violation of these injunctions of the law 
is confinement, on conviction, for life, or a fine of $1,000, 
down to $500, as the character of the offense may be. The 
constitution of the Republic declares "there shall be no 
slavery within the Republic.'' It is morally impossible for a 
Liberian to own or hold in his possession a slave. What a 
Liberian may do by a secret communication with a native in 
the interior, in selling a slave, I do not know. But, if con- 
jecture is to be the basis of opinion, I do not know but it may 
be conjectured the devil is a hlack person. 

The laws enacted for the support and maintenance of aged 
widows, destitute orphans, poor persons and invalid poor, 
and all insane persons, destitute of support, are judicious 
and praisworthy; but, like unto other countries, are not fully 
carried out by the government. Poverty, or the too limited 
resources of the government, may be the reason there are no 
county poor houses, with the farms and diff'erent implements 
of work, as required by law. Some people do beg of their 
ow^n color, and of strangers, in Liberia. And if it were said 
it is not so, then would be found a community the reverse of 
what God told Moses in regard to the Isrealites: "The poor 
shell never cease out of the land." 

I have alluded to the National Fair. This was a Legisla- 
tive movement. Five hundred dollars are appropriated, to 
be distributed annually as premiums. I arrived at Monrovia 
six days too late to witness the exhibition. From the pub- 
lished report of the awarding committee, I learn that premi- 
ums were granted for oxen, coffee, arrow root, cotton in its 
natural state, cotton ginned, African cotton cloth, sugar cane 
syrup, African leather, ginger, rice by Liberian labor, ground 
or pea nuts, corn, corn meal, starch from arrow root, and cassa- 
da, bar soap, tallow candles, palm oil made by Liberians, 
rams, ewes, heifers, bulls, sheep, swine, butter, different kinds 
of cabinet work, plows, great assortment of needle work, 
eddoes, sweet potatoes, and a due proportion of the fruits in 
their natural state, and in the state good house-wives know 
how to place them in a preserved state. The thermometer 
on board ship, at 7 P. M. was 82o. 



160 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

February 2. The thermometer, I was told, was, on ship- 
board, 82o at 7 A. M ; for I went on shore very early in the 
morning to visit the college grounds with Ex-President Rob- 
erts, (President of the college) and to breakfast with him. 
After a pleasant long walk to examine the college arrange- 
ments, being made for the collegiate education of the 
youth of Liberia, and the culinary preparations for their phys- 
ical powers while attaining the education, I went to the Ex- 
President's large, well furnished house, and in proper time 
sat down to a breakfast table having on it coffee and tea, 
warm raised flour bread, corn batter cakes, beef steak, fried 
chicken, milk, butter and fried bananas. Was it not becoming 
in me to do justice to my knife and fork of the latest fashion, 
with such a breakfast before me, and after such a long walk 
as I had taken? It was a late hour, but it was a fashionable 
hour, after the English custom. The house gave evidence, 
in its furniture of rich English manufacture. I was much 
pleased with my social interview with the family. The hus- 
band and wife are bright mulattoes, especially the wife. I 
use the term with no disrespect. It is used to meet the often 
enquiry when speaking of persons in Liberia as to their 
standing, are they black or mulattoes? Our conversation re- 
minded me to insert in my journal (what 1 neglected to do in 
its proper place) the high school under the care of Rev. Mr. 
Day. It is the high school of the Baptist Missionary Socie- 
ty, South. It is located on the ground that makes a part of 
the false cape, and has a most excellent spring of water on 
its premises. It takes its name after its superintendent, and 
is called Day's Hope. It has a primary and classical depart- 
ment, and teaches male and female. 

Four points were before my mind to-day, for investigation: 
The means of the annual support of the Liberian Govern- 
ment — the population of Liberia — the ability of emigrants to 
have a good support in Liberia, and the character of the 
African ^evew My object was to keep in view these points 
as I went through my daily visits on shore; but I w^anted of- 
ficial evidence, as far as each of the points could be had, to 
sum up the whole matter before my mind's eye. 

The copy of the Secretary's Report to the President of Li- 
beria was made for the fiscal year from October 1, 1856, to 
September 30, 1857, inclusive. I copy it: 



LIBERIA, m I FOUND IT. 
REVENUE. 

From tariff duty direct, - - $ 5,988 60 
From anchorage & light-house 

duties, ... - 627 79 

From tonage duty on Liberian 

vessels, . _ . _ 174 50 

From Inspector's fee, being half 

amount paid by masters of 

vessels, - - - . 18 00 



COASTWISE. 

From tariff duty, - - $21,628 30 

From tonage duty,, - - 1,574 52 



$6,808 89 



23,202 84 
$30,011 71 



EXPORT DUTY FOR TIIiREE MONTHS ONLY. 

On 117,744 gallons palm oil, - $ 117 44 
On 31 tons, 17 cwt. 3 qrs. lbs. 
• camw^oodjval'd at $1,942 91, 41 47 

On 432 lbs. of ivory, valued at 

$326 24, - - - - 6 52 

On 10 casks Mai agetta pepper,. 

valued at $231 50^ - ^ 4 63 

On 300 bushels palm kernels, 

valued at $100 00, 
On specie, valued at $864 04, 
On 1 buskel potatoes^ 



2 


00 


43 


19 




02 



1,275 28 



INCLUDED IN COLLECTOR'S ACCOUNT CURRENT, PORT 
OF HARPER, WITH REVENUE. 

Retail license, - - - $ 17 00 

Commission license, - - 7 50 

Auctioneer's license, - - 2^ 80 
Postage on letters per Collector, 

Grand Bassa, - - - 8 97 26 27 



$31,323 26 



RECEIPTS FROM OTHER SOURCES* 

From deposits, - - - $1,004 11 
From estates, - - - 1,298 80 

From sheriff, - - - - 250 20 



Amounts carried forward, $2,553 11 $31,323 26 

11 



1'62 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

Amounts brought forward, 

tFrom Superintendent of Grand 
Baesa, . . - - 

From. Justice of Peace, - 

From Clerk of the Court, 

From Marshal, ^Grand Bassa, 

From sale of public lands. 

From Constables, - - - 

From retail licenses, 

From commission licenses. 

From attorney licenses, - 

From auctioneers' licenses, 

From postage on letters. 

From survey of lands, 

From subscription to Liberia 

Herald, .... 2 00 

From sale of native plunder, 
Maryland county. 

From sale of sundry articles, - 

From fines, military and civil, 

From 317 compiled Statutes, - 

From copper coin, - - - 

From James Hall, M. D., Bal- 
timore, - - - - 

From engraved bills issued, - 

From other sources, 



52,553 11 


$31,323 26 


59 65 




28 55 




2 00 




125 26 




1,003 95 




41 92 




204 87 




30 00 




30 00 




12 00 




31 24 




130 80 





42 


10 


1,550 


73 


126 


05 


634 


00 


727 


43 


5,000 


00 


3,053 


00 


844 


48 



16,233 15 



Total amount of revenue and receipts, $ 47,556 42 

DISBURSEMENTS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENJUNG SEPT. 30, 1857. 

For Government schooner Lark, - - - $ 5,598 58 

For expedition to Sinoe, _ . - - 4,319 78 

For expedition to Cape Palmas, - - - 4,464 01 

For settlement at Grand Cape Mount, - - 423 49 

For settlement at Careysburg, - - - 69 65 

For repairs of public buildings, - - - 1,083 84 
For light-house, Monrovia, - - $337 34 
Por light-house. Harper, - - 82 37 



419 71 

For Liberia Herald oflice, - - - - 411 78 

For Executive, Treasury, State, Superinten- 
dent's, Collector's and Register's Depart- 
ment's, ------- 455 49 

Por Legislature, 5,090 55 



Amount carried forward, - - - $22,336 88 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 163 

Amount brought forward, - - - $$22,336 88 

For Sinoe county, for the sufferers, $30 68 
For Maryland CO., for the sufferers, 340 50 

371 18 



For civil list, including Treasurer, Sub-Treas- 
urer, Collectors, and Land Commissioner's 
commissions, ------ 

For Collector's fee, - - - . - 
For Inspector's fee, direct, - - $171 50 
For Inspector's fee, coastwise, - 14 28 



8,359 


61 


40 


01 


1,599 


50 


6,120 


17 


172 


38 


176 


75 


99 


67 


237 


50 


438 


33 


930 


90 


607 


87 


4,965 


12 


518 


32 


74 


19 


$47,048 


43 



For Judiciary, ------ 

For elections, - ^ - - - - 

For pensions, - - 

For interest, - - - 

For deposits, ------ 

For estates, ------ 

For corporation authorities, - - ^ 

For military, ------ 

For contingents, - - - - - 

For profit and loss, - - - - - 

For balance in favor of late Sub-Treasurer, 
in Sinoe, ------ 

Total amount of disbursments. 

To this report, the Clerk of the President added at the bot- 
tom, at my request, receipts of preceding year $42,644 44. 

It will be seen what are the reliable sources of income, 
and what are the regular annual disbursements. The report 
does not state the amount the Government has issued before 
1856-7, of its paper, and is liable for; nor the amount she has 
received prior to 1856-7, on deposit for individuals and es- 
tates, that she is also, liable for. The law requiring export 
duties did not go into operation until the last quarter of the 
year 1856-7. 

It is plain that her national support is depending on the 
labor of the natives. Can the Liberian Government take 
the trade with the natives in her own hands by her own citi- 
zens, and make it more reliable in amount to herself, and to 
the benefit of the natives? If that is not desirable nor prac- 
tical, then the revenue from that source is not reliable in its 
amount year after year, while the expenses of the Govern- 
ment are certain year after year. The increase of the bush- 
els of cassada, sweet potatoes, and eddoes, may guard against 
the occurrence of the scarcity of provisions as in 1856, but 
they will not give revenue to the Government for its expen- 



164 LIBERIA, A3 I FOUND IT. 

ses. The Liberian Government receives no revenue by tax- 
ing her citizens. She can pass no laws and enforce them on 
the tribes within her territorial limits, that will bring in a 
revenue from their labor. She reaches them only by the 
coastwise trade that is carried on chiefly by foreigners. Oth- 
er portions on the west coast are opening to the foreigner 
for their goods, where no revenue laws are in operation. A 
proposition is discussed to allow the English nation to im- 
port goods of British manufacture for the space of ten years 
iree of duty^ in consideration that England will pay annually 
$100,000 for that length of time for the privilege. Is the 
Liberian schooner Lark able to prevent vessels of other 
nations from trading at the native points without first en- 
tering her port of entry, and taking out licenses to trade 
down the coast? Or, is England, at the mouth of her can- 
Bon, to drive off from the coasts, those who will buy of the 
natives, "scott free" of duty ! The fact is, there is a difficul- 
ty to be met in securing a reliable annual revenue to Libe- 
ria, and the reader can judge whether the paw of the Lion 
can remedy it by its foothold on the Liberian finances. The 
imports in Liberia in the fiscal year, ending Sept. 1843, were 
$03,269 29 — and the exports the same year, amounted to 
$54,643 75. The imports exceeded the exports that j^ear 
$8,62.5 57. It will be borne in mind, this year was before the 
independence of Liberia, and that the Missionary Societies, 
and the Colonization Society made remittances of money to 
pay the ministers salaries, school teachers salaries, and the 
expenses of the officers of the Government and of her agents 
to attend to the acclimation of the immigrants. 

The Secretary of the Treasury reported for the year, end- 
ing Sept. 1851 : 

Duties on imports, _ . . . $13,294 35 

Sales of public lands, . > _ . 973 oo 

In all, - $ 14,272 35 

DISBURSEMENTS. 

Legislature, -..---. $1,366 71 

Civil list, - 5,942 12 

Judiciary, - 1,407 99 

Naval, - 5,281 25 

Public buildings, ------ 1,708 90 



Whole amount, $15,706 97 

Disbursements exceeded receipts $1,434 62. 
The population of Liberia is an important item of infor- 
mation, in the judgment of the reader. I regretted very much 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 165 

that I could not obtain the statistical information that the 
Legislature of Liberia designed should have been taken in 
1854. The returns embraced the counties of Mesurado, Grand 
Bassa, and Sinoe. In 1854, the Maryland county was not 
attached to the Liberian Government. The census returns 
from Bassa and Sinoe, were considered incorrect, and they 
were not, for that reason, placed in my hands to examine. 
I was also disappointed in not ifinding in the Clerk's Office 
in Monrovia, the returns required by law of the births and 
deaths that occur each year in the county of Mesurado. The 
reader will see I obtained this official information in the oth- 
er three counties in Liberia. I hope I shall not do any in- 
justice to Liberia in my statements in regard to her popula- 
tion. I wish to bring up the past history of her population, 
to furnish the reader with information to judge of Liberia in 
this particular in a fair light. 

The census of Liberia for 1843, inclusive, states that from 
1820 to 1844, there had been sent to Liberia, 4,454 emigrants 
from the United States. Of this number, 520 left Liberia 
for the United States, and other countries, leaving 3,934 to 
dwell in Liberia. Of this number, viz: 3,934, 874 died by 
the acclimating fever. This showns a loss of twenty-two 
andgOne fifth per cent. Of the 3,060 who acclimated, 1,324 
died in twenty -four years, viz: up to 1844, by age, war, dis- 
ease, and other causes. It is due, if I may so state, to the 
African fever, and also to the physicians of Liberia, to men- 
tion, that of the number of emigrants sent to Liberia, 363 
were over fifty-five years old, and 285 of the 363 were over 
sixty years of age. Up to 1844, there had died 2,198 by 
fever and other causes, leaving in that year, viz : 1844, 1,736 
living of the original settlers. The difference between the 
living and the dead, in twenty-four years, was 462 in favor of 
the dead. This statement includes no births during these 
years. But the census of 1844, tells us that there were at 
that time 645 children born in Liberia. By adding these 
living children to the living settlers, we find the living ex- 
ceeded the deaths by 183; and that the whole Liberian popu- 
lation in 1844, was 2,381. From 1844 to 1858, fourteen 
years, it is very probable that four per cent, of this 2,381 
died, each of the fourteen years. As we will not allow for 
a child to be born of this 2,381 persons for fourteen years, 
certainly four per cent, is a great allowance. According to 
this allowance, there was, up to January, 1858, 1,038 deaths 
of the 2,381 persons, which would leave at that time 1,343 
living. Subtracting this number, 1,343 from 3,934, the ori- 
ginal settlers in Liberia from the years 1820 to 1858, (a peri- 
od of thirty-eight years,) there has been 2,591 deaths. From 



166 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

1844 to 1858, there have been sent to Liberia from the United 
States, 5,432 emigrants. Allowing that 300 of this number 
returned to the United States, or went to some other coun- 
tries, we have 5,132 who settled in'Liberia. If we add the 
1,343, who were living January, 1858, of the emigrants, and 
their children, who were sent to Liberia prior to 1844; there 
ought to be in Liberia in January, 1858, 6,475, barring 
deaths on the one hand, and not claiming any births on the 
other hand. My statementsof the population in the counties 
of Mesurado, Bassa, and Sinoe, make the number in Jan. 
1858, 6,671. A census to-day, I do not believe, will differ 
from this number, 100 more or less. The difference between 
what ought to be, and what is, is 196 more than is called for. 
That deaths by " the fever," and deaths by disease, war, age 
and casualties, have taken off, during the fourteen years, 
many of the 6,475, we cannot doubt. Nor can we disbelieve 
that by births in Liberia, there has been made such addi- 
tions, that in the fourteen years, those births make the ag- 
gregate of the present population 196 more than the origin- 
al stock, which is considered in this calculation as not having- 
lost one of its number by death in the fourteen years. My 
impressions are, that in the next fourteen years, the showing 
of population will be more favorable for Liberia. 1. There 
will be better arrangements made for the acclimation of emi- 
grants. 2. The settlements will be in a more improved state 
to reside in. 3. There will be a more watchful notice as to 
the best time for emigrants to go to Liberia. 4. The physi- 
cians of Liberia will be in advance in their medical science. 
As Maryland county is now a portion of the Republic of Li- 
beria, it is proper to refer to her population. As I have sta- 
ted, the number of emigrants sent to that colony, as given 
to me by Dr. Hall, the General Agent of the Maryland So- 
ciety, is 1,300. My estimate of the Maryland county was 
semi-officially, and from my own enquiries, 950 inhabitants. 
This makes a loss in that county of 350. By adding 950 to 
the population in the other counties, we have 7,621 as the 
population of the Republic in 1858. No native is included 
in this statement. The American Society has sent out in all 
up to January, 1858, 9,872. The Maryland Society, 1,300— 
by both societies, 11,172. After thirty-eight years, of this 
number with their offspring, 7,621 are living, leaving for 
deaths 3,551, which is 33 per cent, loss by death. I do not 
think that Liberia, and the friends of African Colonization 
need be ashamed to tell these facts "in Gath," nor to publish 
them "in the streets of Askalon." Certainly the reader will 
contrast the loss of life in the settlement of Liberia for thirty- 
eight years with a similar loss of a similar number of per- 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 167 

sons in the same length of time settling in a new foreign 
country. We have data by which such comparisons can be 
made. Of the whole number sent to Liberia by the Ameri- 
can Society, 3,730 were free born, 5,816 were emancipated 
slaves, and 326 bought their freedom. Of the number of free 
persons, 707 were from the free states, and 3,023 were from 
the slave states. 

The ability of emigrants to have a good support in Libe- 
ria. This point should be looked at in two aspects. 1. The 
improved condition of Liberia for the last fourteen years. 2. 
What an emigrant can have for his support. 

1. The improved condition of Liberia for the last fourteen 
years. The census of Liberia, for 1844, gave for the counties 
of Mesurado, Bassa and Sinoe, 948 acres in cultivation of dif- 
erent products, as corn, cane, rice, &c. The Register's report 
to me for Mesurado county, up to January, 1858, had 1,250 
acres in cultivation. In Bassa and Sinoe counties, from ex- 
amination and inquiries, 1,200 acres can be put down as cul- 
tivated. This makes an increase in the cultivated acres, in 
fourteen years, of 1,500 acres. In 1844 the number of acres 
owned in the three counties was 2,100. In 1858 the number 
of acres owned in the same counties was 6,440, which does 
not include purchased land nor bounty land; while in the 
report of 1844 one tract of 570 acres is included in the 2,100 
acres reported. This shows an increase in land drawn by 
settlers in fourteen years of 4,340 acres. In 1844 there were 
in Mesurado county 6,345 coffee trees; in Bassa county 14,- 
435, and in Sinoe county 250 — in all 21,030 coffee trees. In 
1854 there were reported in Mesurado county 34,202 coffee 
trees; Bassa can be safely put down at 25,000, and Sinoe at 
12,000— in all 71,202; a gain in fourteen years of 50,172 
trees. In 1844 in the three counties there were 71 head of 
cattle, 214 sheep and goats, and 285 swine. In 1854 the 
census of Mesurado county reported 162 head of cattle, 327 
sheep and goats, and 353 swine. In 1858 I report for Bassa 
60 head of cattle, and a number of sheep and goats and 
swine. For Sinoe I report 50 head of cattle, and likewise 
sheep, goats, and swine, notwithstanding the wars in the two 
counties that had destroyed many that the people had. Here 
is a good increase in stock in fourteen years. In 1844. the 
real and personal property of merchants and tradesmen in. 
the three counties was estimated at $98,300. Many of those 
merchants are dead. But in Monrovia four merchants can. 
be found whose property will cover the whole assessment of 
1844. There can be no question that Liberia is very far 
ahead now of what she was in 1844. 

2. What an emigrant can have for his support in Liberia.. 
It is due to Liberia to state what she will do for an industri- 



LIBEKIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

ous settler on her soil. He arrives in Liberia with his family 
with $200. During his first week's residence in the Recep- 
tacle he makes a selection of his ten acres of land, and gets 
his certificate for it. He buys a yoke of cattle for $35 00, 
and with his family force he commences to clear an acre of 
land. In three weeks he has burnt off the wood, and with 
an outlay of $20 00 he has the acre cleared and a house put 
up that will answer his purpose until he is better able to put 
up a better building. During this month he has boarded with 
his family in the Receptacle. And during this time his fam- 
ily has planted corn, cassada, sweet potatoes, yams, beans, 
peas, cabbage, eddoes, and mellons of different kinds, in 
their due proportion; and they have placed here and there, 
near to the house, a few plantains, bananas, chiotes, paw- 
paw, granadilla, and sour sop cions, with two cions each of 
mango plum, orange and ocra. He moves into his house, 
and draws rations for himself and family for each week for 
five months to come, to be cooked by his family or used as he 
shall judge best. What he does want he eats ; what he does 
not want he sells, or barters for what he wants, whether it 
be work or articles of Liberian growth. He puts on his 
place hens to furnish him in due time with eggs and chick- 
ens, and a sow that will present him in due time with a lit- 
ter of pigs. His outlay for these articles is $6 00. His oxen 
have found their own food. Should the husband have died, 
(for we want to look at the matter in all its forms,) then the 
wife and children have a house to live in, and the benefit of 
the work so far, and the means on hand to prepare for the 
future. During the second month he clears two more acres 
of land, and puts around his land a rail fence, and with a 
cross fence divides his cleared land from his wood land. If 
he has no running water on his land $15 00 will dig him a 
well and stone it up. For $25 he gets 320 young coffee 
trees, and puts them out fifteen feet apart on an acre that 
has been well plowed for the purpose. Between these rows 
he has a row of cassada, corn, yams, arrow root and ginger, 
planted alternately, while on his other new cleared acre he 
has an half acre of it in sugar cane, which will occupy that 
ground for four years. The other half acre he divides it, if 
he pleases, between ginger and arrow root. A cow would 
be desirable for the family ai $15 00. Here and there let 
him plant cotton seed, that the shrub may yield him cotton 
for four to five years, for stockings for the family. He eats 
this month of his cabbage, beans, peas, and mellons; and 
what he does not consume of his rations he can sell for inci- 
dental expenses, as the sharpening his plow, &c. For lee 
way let him set apart $10 for extra unforseen expenses. In 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 169 

the third month he clears two more acres of land to enlarge 
his coffee orchard. He eats this month of his sweet pota- 
toes, his beans, peas and mellons, and puts out the young 
palm tree in different parts of the land that is not set out 
with coffee trees. He has bartered away some of his rations 
for work, or for cassada and eddoes. In the fourth month he 
puts out another acre in coffee trees at an expense of ^25 00, 
and between the rows let him plant arrow root, ginger and 
pea nuts, alternately. On the other acre let him increase 
his cassada, yams and sweet potatoes. He will move his 
fence back. He eats this month sweet potatoes, corn, green 
plaintain in its boiled state, beans and peas, while he dis- 
poses of some of his weekly rations. In the fifth month he 
clears two acres of land, and plows it for coffee trees. Fifty 
dollars should be laid out for the trees on these two acres. 
His rations that he does not want can be sold to pay for 
helping him to put them out. He eats this month a chicken, 
if he pleases, yams, sweet potatoes, eddoes, pawpaw, mel- 
lons, beans, peas and plantain boiled. Let him move his di- 
viding fence back. In the sixth month he clears all his 
wood land, except a quarter of an acre, which quarter of an 
acre has its underbrush kept down ; and he has three acres 
under fence for his oxen and cow. He eats this month of 
his eddoes, yams, potatoes, granadilla, chiotes, beans, cab- 
bage, plantain, banana, and pawpaw. It will be borne in 
mind the family has had meat every day for the six months. 
He commences the seventh month with vegetables to sell of 
different kinds, and learns a little of self-denial in the meat 
line. In the eighth month he uses his cassada, and now need 
not ever be without it, nor of his other roots or vines. His 
ginger, and arrow root and ground nuts he has for sale, and 
can make his arrangements, which he should by all means 
do, to have the articles to sell every year. It will be borne in 
mind that fish can be had from the rivers and creeks. Good 
cultivation of the soil, between the coffee trees, will give to 
the owner, in the third year of his residence, three pounds to 
the tree, which, at eight cents a pound, is $307 20. Every 
year, under that good cultivation, increases the yield of the 
tree. Does a tree yield eight pounds a year? Then the in- 
come of the four acres, at eight cents a pound, is $819 20, less 
the expense of picking and getting it ready for market. 
This is not fancy farming. It is not paper agriculture. What 
would such an amount of labor be for a German landed on 
our shores in six months? He would do the work with his 
spade, and it would look like a garden spot. A Liberian that 
will be industrious with the facilities given to him, as I have 
stated, can do the work in the Ajrican climate. I would re- 



170 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

mind the reader of what the North Carolina woman did at 
Cape Mount if he be in doubt. This subject of agriculture 
in Liberia has been my study. I say this that it may not be 
considered by the reader as a visionary expose. As to the 
arrangement of the articles I have stated, some of the roots 
will grow at all seasons; but when the settler is in a condi- 
tion to meet his annual expenses he can plant according to 
time and seasons, and get, in some of the articles, a better 
yield. The outfit should embrace, besides two years of cloth- 
ing, and crockery, and bedding, cotton cards, axe, hoe, frow, 
drawing knife, bush sythe, bill hook, spade, hatchet, hand- 
saw, gimblets, augers, chissels, wedge, grubbing hoe, pinch- 
ers, nails, corn mill, (price $5 00,) ox chain, and plow, with 
some fifteen pounds of Swedes iron. This outfit will amount 
(except the clothing) to $60 00, in proportion to the number 
in family that will require axes and hoes. The passage and 
six months support by the American Society will depend on 
the age and number in the family. A single man, or single 
woman, should have beside an outfit: for the man $100; for 
the woman $75. But I would not advise an unmarried wo- 
man, or widow, without children to aid her, to go to Liberia, 
if she has no practice in cutting and making up garments for 
both or either of the sexes, without means for her support. 
If sjie has connexions going there with whom she can live, 
her money could be so placed as to be of service to her there. 
In case there is no money, if it be a slave to be emancipated 
to go, let him or her be hired out for three years to raise the 
money for the removal and settlement in Liberia. Industry 
can make amends for the want of money, but it takes a long- 
er time to make the start. Isaac Overton, to whom I have 
alluded, is an instance of what can be done, even when not 
apparently well calculated, as seen here, to go to Liberia. 

I would, in this place, remark that Liberia has cost the 
friends of colonization about $1,500,000. This sum covers 
the purchase of territory, the transportation of emigrants, 
their provision for the voyage, and six months support, the 
expenses attending their acclimation, the support of Liberia 
while a colony, and the various expenses attending the rais- 
ing of funds, and superintending the whole operations of the 
cause. I am of the opinion, in looking at the condition of 
Liberia, and its future value to the black race, she has repaid 
the money and the loss of life, by being a Republic, in living 
operation^ on the Western Coast of Africa. 

There is a fever in Liberia that is rightly named. The 
African fever. It is confined to new emigrants to Liberia. 
It comes to almost every emigrant soon after his arrival in 
his abode on shore. A few, very few have lived there, and 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 171 

never had it. It comes to prepare the emigrant to live in 
Liberia. Many have died under its operation. It attacks 
persons differently. Some are much prostrated, and speedi- 
ly recover, having good health, the year in, and the year out. 
Others are not so much prostrated, but are left to time to 
revive, and regain their health, which is obtained. To others 
it would occasionally return from undue exercise, or expo- 
sure, or eating, and debilitate them, but not prostrate them. 
Some for the space of twelve and eighteen months, would 
now and then, have a chill, take some medicine, and the 
chill would not return again for weeks. I observed some 
married women, blacks and mulattoes, who were much de- 
bilitated, and yet would move about attending to their do- 
mestic affairs. No doubt many emigrants who have come 
here and died, would have died at home by the diseases that 
they had contracted before leaving for Liberia. Still there 
are secondary causes that have aided the fever to take off 
many of the emigrants: Such as the natural unhealthiness 
of the towns they were placed in to acclimate; the unsuita- 
bleness of the houses they lived in, in the time of acclima- 
tion; the inexperience of the physicians in treating the per- 
sons when sick; the long indulgence of bad habits on the 
human system, the indulgence of the appetite by improper 
food; the predisposition to fatal diseases before arriving in 
Liberia; unwillingness to follow the advice of nurses, and 
the unwillingness to take the medicines prescribed by the 
physicians, and infirmity and age. Many have died in Libe- 
ria who acclimated, but lived in settlements where there are 
no physicians, and when taken sick died from having nothing 
done to check their sickness. Many have died in Liberia 
from diseased lungs, a diseased brain, and anasarca, a spe- 
cies of pleurisy. I requested three of the physicians to give 
me a statement in regard to the character of the African fe- 
ver, and its treatment by them. Their opinion was furnished 
to me in writing. And as there is no discrepancy in their opin- 
ions, I will give the opinion of one of them, because it is the 
most minute description of it. " Attacks of African fever 
generally commence about the third week after landing, and 
are ushered in by a general feeling of lassitude, pain in the 
head and limbs; sometimes pain in the back, and a general 
feeling of soreness of body. The skin is dry and hot; the 
tongue furred, pulse rapid, and the patient complains of 
great thirst; he is more or less restless, according to the 
height of the fever, and the extent of the vexehal obstruc- 
tions. If the patient has enjoyed tolerable good health, be- 
fore arriving, and his constitution be unimpaired by age or 
hard labor, he has not much to fear from the fever. With 



172 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 



active treatment he generally finds relief in 24 or 36 hours. 
If the fever he of a continued type, it may run until the sev- 
enth or ninth day, with scarce an intermission. This is how- 
ever comparatively rare. It is most generally intermitting in 
its character, and the patient is liahle to frequent attacks 
during the first four or five months, when they gradually be- 
come less frequent. At the expiration of one or two years, 
he is left comparatively free from their influence, and may be 
considered as acclimated. To this general description there 
are of course exceptions, some having scarcely any fever, or 
escape it altogether. Others will have it in its worst forms of 
billious remittent, or congestive. Not a few suffer from ir- 
regularities of the system. Want of proper nourishment, 
exposure, imprudence in eating, and indolence, are among 
the predisposing causes. Persons of a phlegmatic tempera- 
ment most frequently become its subjects. Physically pre- 
disposed to inactivity, they readily sink into despondency. 
The nervous system loses its tone. The pores of the skin 
ceasing to perform their functions properly, the vital organs 
have an undue weight thrown upon them; they take an en- 
largement, or become structurally diseased; dropsical symp- 
toms ensue, and the case becomes a critical one. With fe- 
males, this same train of causes acting upon the uterine func- 
tions, they become sympathetically aff'ected, so as to prevent 
the possibility of their bearing children while under its in- 
fluence. 

" Treatment. — If the attack be mild in its character, calo- 
mel in doses of from two to four grains, in syrup, or mucilage, 
given at intervals of three hours, for six or twelve hours, 
followed with castor oil, combined with a few drops of spirits 
of turpentine, will generally relieve the system, and prepare 
the way for the administration of tonics, which should be 
administered as soon as the intestinal canal is discharged of 
its contents. Sulphate of quinine in doses of three grains, 
should be given once in three hours, either in mucilage 
water, or in solution of water with sulphuric acid. This 
should be followed for three or four days. The patient then 
becoming convalescent, the quinine may be less often given, 
but should be continued until after the tenth day. Cool 
drinks should be fully allowed. Snake root decoction has a 
beneficial effect as a febrifuge, if freely used. The leaves 
of the native plant called "fever weed," also, when used in 
decoction, forms a pleasant and cooling drink. 

" In congestive, or billious remittent, the treatment varies, 
and is more active, as the violence of the disease renders it 
the more critical. In the exacerbations of the fever, which 
generally come on towards night, small doses of Dover's or 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 173 

James' Powders, given at intervals of two or three hours, will 
generally afford relief. When there is great heat, and dry- 
ness of the skin, the surface should be spunged with cold 
water, the sensation is most grateful to the patient, and the 
relief is almost instantaneous. While it is important that the 
bowels should be evacuated once in the twenty-four hours, it 
is equally important that too loose a condition should be 
carefully guarded against. In tropical climates dysenteric 
symptoms are particularly to be dreaded. In case of their 
supervention, diluted sulphuric acid forms the most reliable 
remedy. Ague and chills do not, as a general rule, accom- 
pany the first attack of fever, but commence usually after 
the second or third attack, and are generally tertian in form.j 
approaching the quarton, as they lessen in fequency. The 
faithful administration of sulphate of quinine seldom fails to 
break up the periodicity of their attacks, and thoroughly 
brace the system against their influence. 

"Diet should be wholesome and nourishing. Salt food 
should be avoided, and also fruits and fish. Stimulants and 
tonics, a& brandy and ale, are generally needed during, con- 
valescence and low stages of the fever. 

"To persons emigrating. to Liberia, the rainy season seems 
to be the most favorable for passing through the fever. The 
heat being less oppressive, .there is less constitutional debili- 
ty, and they consequently rally the more easily from th^ir 
successive attacks." 

The best time for emigrants to arrive in Liberia, should be 
well considered by physicians in Liberia, and by agents that 
have in charge the time of sailing of the ship from the U. 
States to Liberia. It is a point of too great importance for 
two or three to decide. All new light should be had that 
can be brought to bear on the subject. Health has not been 
wantonly trifled with in days gone by; but I most candidly 
say, it has not received all that care and oversight that its 
protection reqjaires. As to the time of arriving in Liberia 
to acclimate, I give no opinion of my own. 

February 3. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 82°. Th^ Captain of 
the ship gave notice that he would leave Monrovia for Cape 
Mount to-day. I went on shore to bid farewell to the ac- 
quaintances I had formed here. We parted with mutual de- 
sires to Him who reigns in wisdom and goodness, for his 
blessing and care, for those residing in Liberia, and for my- 
self on the passage to my home. I went on board of the ship^. 
and we weighed anchor for Cape Mount. Thermometer at 
7 P. M. 820. 

February 4. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 82°. The wind vras- 
light, and still gives us but little aid on our way. At 11 A* 



174 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

M. Cape Mount was seen, and at 5 P. M., we anchored off 
Robertsport. This is our last anchorage until we reach the 
United States, if prospered by Him who "holds the winds in 
his fists." Thermometer at 7 P. M. 82°. 

February 5. Thermometer at 7 A. M. 80°. It rained very 
hard about 4 A. M. The sun came out at 9 A. M. I went 
on shore, and learnt that the emigrants we lauded here had 
not been sick, and all were well. I learnt a surveyor had 
been here from Monrovia, and had returned back, without 
laying off any farm lots. I felt it to be my duty to the emi- 
grants who had not drawn town lots, to advise them not to do 
so, but at the end of the six months they were to be provided 
for, if no farm land was laid off' for them to draw, to leave 
the place, and go up the St. Paul's river, and draw their 
land. I returned to the ship at 2 P. M., and soon the anchor 
was weighed to sail for the United States. We took on 
board at Cape Mount, two of the emigrants we brought out, 
to return to Virginia, where they went from, they not wish- 
ing to stay in Liberia. Another resident of the place, a 
member of the family I referred to in my journal, returned to 
the United States. They all paid their passage back to the 
United States. 

I gazed at the land from the quarter deck of the ship, as 
we sailed away from it, with mingled feelings of hope, grati- 
fication, and fear. I had seen the country I had long desir- 
ed to know by personal observation. I had seen the emi- 
grants themselves, and their condition. M^Aer^i went, and 
what I saw, I hav« stated. I have made the statements with 
minuten<iss in connection with the settlements, and the people 
in them, that the reader may know definitely what to judge. 
I have aimed to meet the wants of masters desiring to free 
their servants, that they may decide whether Liberia is a 
suitable home for them. In seeking for this information, I 
knew I should give information that the servants would want 
to elect to go there; while the free blacks, who are daily 
feeling a civil pressure upon them in regard to their enjoy- 
ment of political rights in this land, could learn how they 
could better their condition, by going to Liberia. I now take 
the liberty to present my own reflections on the whole mat- 
ter. I will not put down one thought in malice, or contempt, 
or has.te. The reader can form his own conclusions, which 
I hope will accord with mine. 

REFLECTIONS. 
' 1. Liberia is the only free black Republic in the world. 
It spreads over its citizens a constitution that gives to them 
equal rights, and sustains common school education, and re- 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 175 

cognizes the impress of Christianity by an open bible to them. 
It is in possession of every material to make it a wise, pros- 
perous, rich, strong, populous, moral and christian nation, of 
one homogeneous people. Her accessions of citizens from 
abroad must be by the law of climate of their own distinct 
branch of the human family ; and they must be moved by the 
same considerations to make it their home that influence 
every present settler to cast his lot there. And every native 
within her territorial jurisdiction, who embraces Christianity, 
will most naturally become its citizen, and will kindly and 
readily coalesce as a citizen of the one great common coun- 
try of his race. All will be of one blood, one religion, and 
one intent in being a nation. It is settled in this the day of 
the infancy of the Republic that it never can be possessed by 
another race of people. It is therefore a great reservoir opened 
up to the scattered Africans who are free from human bond- 
age, to gather and have a name that is above every name, 
that is now by common parlance attached to them. 

The civil government is adapted to the habits of her pre- 
sent citizens, and those who shall seek citizenship there. 
Their habits and associations revolt against a monarchical 
government — a one black man power. The laws meet the 
social, moral, and political interests of this race of people. 
In the commencement of their civil life they meet with in- 
fluences that radically remove old established and long prac- 
ticed customs, adapted to, and growing out of the relations 
they sustain while living in the United States. Every new 
comer discovers on his landing in Liberia this is the free 
country I had had stated to me before I left the United 
States. Cast cannot exist there, but that which grows out of 
wealth. And this will always be limited to a few, and be as 
transitory as the stay of an eagle on the towering oak, which 
soon takes wings and flies away. It is a position that this 
year's poor may occupy by prosperity the next year. There 
is no entailment of property, nor title, nor standing of fami- 
lies there. Every man is the maker of his own position in 
society. There is no black, nor mulatto; no free born, nor 
emancipated slave; no north or south of Mason and Dixon's 
line as to the election of office, civil, political, or ecclesiasti- 
cal. Fitness for the station is the point to be known. 

2. Liberia is in her infancy in government and internal re- 
sources for national support. Some of her men have been 
educated in the United States; but she has many other men 
who take an active part in giving a forming and permanent 
character to her civil and political institutions. These men 
are self-educated men in Liberia. They are, it is true, novices 
in their national knowledge and civil practice; but they have 



176 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

shown they are men of discretion, of good judgment, and 
men who feel their responsibility to their country. As they 
find themselves deficient in knowledge of national affairs, 
they apply themselves to the study of those branches of it 
that their respective minds desire to knovv^ for the good of the 
Republic. This practice enables them to meet the exigen- 
cies of the nation as they occur. More talent will be yearly 
developed, as more demands shall be made on increased 
well-informed intellects, through her schools of learning. 
The advances made by Liberia are proofs of what I state. 
It is true there are those who have aptness of speech, with 
the bow and smile that commends a candidate for office to 
many voters; but I hope there is sufficient good common sense 
among the people to keep that class in abeyance as to their 
ruling the land. Still the prayer is needed there, that is very 
necessary in the United States: O, God, "give her counsel- 
lors wisdom and her exactors righteousness." 

3. The soil of Liberia can furnish an abundance of food, 
and valuable productions to any amount of settlers. She can, 
without war, enlarge her territorial possessions back from the 
coast, and get nearer to natives more agricultural in their 
pursuits than those are who are living within her present 
limits. That the great body of the Liberians eat every day 
animal food, I do not believe; nor do I believe that those now 
living on town lots, with no other land to cultivate, and depend- 
ing on the productions of those lots, can raise enough to buy 
salt or fresh provisions for their daily wants. But this is not 
the fault of the country. It is the result of the policy of the 
people in making their settlements. It is my opinion that 
four thousand of the population of Liberia are living on 
q^uarter acre lots. The proportion of this number, who are 
merchants and mechanics, is comparatively so small that we 
are constrained to say that the majority of the people, by 
their own act, or the policy of the government, (shall the 
American Society bear its part?) have placed themselves in 
a position that their comfort and wealth on the one hand, and 
the growth and strength of Liberia on the other hand, did 
not require. And as to the balance of the population, three 
thousand six hundred and twenty-one, they are on farm land, 
farming with the hoe and bill hook, on an average of three 
to four acres to each farm. Why there is not an abundance 
of meat, and to spare, is to be learnt from this statement. 
Of course there are some there who write home and ask for 
bacon and flour to be sent to them; but we repeat it, the fault 
lies not on the soil and water of Liberia. It is my deliberate 
opinion that Liberia can give an industrious emigrant, before 
the close of his first year's residence, a fair commencement 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 177 

to have animal food as his diet, as any other new country fur- 
nishes to her new settlers; and his ability will increase every 
year to have it, as he and his family shall need it. If it be 
not so with him, he is lazy, or lacks in judgment in man- 
aging his time and his means, or a numerous family cripples 
his efforts. So far as the country is concerned, she can re- 
ceive five thousand industrious emigrants a j^ear, and give to 
them good land on which they can establish good homes — 
land where they can acclimate with fair prospects of going 
through the trial of the African fever. Other places can be 
opened up, and be ready for the occupancy of other emi- 
grants. The question is not, is the land capable of giving 
such a number of industrious emigrants a good support and 
a pleasant home? The questions are, is the American Soci- 
ety able to command means to get such a number to Liberia 
in a year, and support them the six months after their arrival 
there, and properly locate them in buildings suitable to ac- 
climate? and is there no danger that Liberia might possibly 
feel too great a pressure of such a number annually on her 
polls to keep the helm of State in the hands of her old ex- 
perienced citizens? These are the questions to decide on the 
policy of such an yearly emigration. There is no lack of 
medical aid to be distributed to meet the emigrants in their 
acclimating process. They have now the medical library in 
Liberia which was given by the late Dr. Kitteridge, of New 
Hampshire; and another medical library of the late Dr. John 
Allen, of Shelby county, Ky., is to be sent to Liberia. We 
have stated what an industrious emigrant can have at the 
close of his first year's residence, and what the years follow- 
ing. Can the civilized world be annually glutted with gin- 
ger, arrow root, ground nuts and indigo? Can the coffee tree 
fail to bring its annual yield for exportation? Can the palm 
nut be gathered as the stones of the streets, to make the oil 
that all the world will buy? Can the camwood be gathered 
from the forests by the axe, for the same world to have the best 
red dye-wood it can have? Let only these enumerated ar- 
ticles receive the influence of industry, guided by judgment 
in the use of beasts of burden, proper tools and machinery, 
and what an exporting country Liberia can be? Let her rise 
in numbers, and in the strength of numbers to thus export 
year after year, and she may keep her cattle, her corn, her 
rice, her sugar, her cotton, her cocoa, her cassada, her eddoes, 
her yams, her sweet potatoes, her garden productions, as 
beans, tomatoes, &c., with all her variety of tropical fruits, 
for her own population, and those of the shipping which 
come to her coast for her exports. Much thought of Liberia 
has not mad© me mad. I speak the words of truth and so- 
12 



178 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

berness. As she now is, she cannot do it. She ts deficient in 
labor on her land. Many of the statements we have had about 
her agricultural state, have been too high colored. The ex- 
ports of Liberian labor, the absence of the plow, the unin- 
closed farms, and the number of acres cultivated, prove her 
present deficiency in doing justice to themselves, and to the 
eoil of Liberia. 

4. Liberia is sustained by labor that is foreign. The Ameri- 
can Colonization Society places on her shores her citizens, sup- 
ports them for six months, attends them, when sick, for six 
months, by paid physicians, and nurses, hurries the dead of the 
six months, pays for the survey of land drawn by the emigrants, 
buys her territory of the natives, gives the government the right 
to sell lands to increase her treasury, and pays the expense of 
agencies to superintend these matters, except that of the 
sales of lands. The Episcopal, Baptist, Methodist, and Pres- 
byterian Boards of Foreign Missions, furnish the population 
of Liberia with the Christian Ministry, and teachers of com- 
mon and high schools. These Boards expended in Liberia, in 
1857, over $90,000. Three-fourths of the sum the Liberians 
received in the moral and pecuniary benefit of it. The Secreta- 
ry of Treasury states in his annual report the revenue obtained 
by the coast trade and the export duty, was $25,625 25 — very 
near two-thirds of the reliable revenue of Liberia. But this 
sum is from the labor of the natives. Is there another nation 
that gets its national support as Liberia receives hers? She 
has no weight bearing on her, whereby she feels the necessity 
of industry for her self-support. As a nation, she may be said 
to live by the labor of foreigners. She is this day not walking 
alone. She wants for nothing as to extent of land, or for pro- 
ducts that are reliable or easy of cultivation. What does 
she grow, that the labor for it is by the sweat of the brow? 
The statistics furnished of exports show a regular falling of[ 
in the last four years. This is not owing to a want of de- 
mand for palm oil. The Earl of Clarendon stated, in Nov., 
1857, in the House of Commons, in England, that the palm 
trade at Lagos has increased fifty per cent., and now amount- 
ed to £2,000,000 a year. I learned in Monrovia that the 
steamers touching there monthly were in part loaded with 
cotton shipped at Lagos for England. I know that it is the 
British capital that brings the native labor, spread over a great 
territory far back into the interior, to Lagos, for her shipping 
to take away to England; while the Liberians have not capi- 
tal thus to use. But right and candor requires us to put 
an honorable and true expose of her position before the 
mind of herself as well as the American reader. It is true, if 
I may so express myself, she has but arisen to stand on her 



UBBatA, AS I FOUWD IT. 179 

feet. The revenue from her own productions, last year, was but 
four dollars and sixty-Jive cents! "What thinkest thou, Simon? 
Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? 
of their own children or of strangers? Peter saith, of stran- 
gers." The practice of Liberia says, "the children are free." 
No. Liberia must change her system of agriculture. She 
must have more of her population on farming land. She 
must introduce other implements of husbandry. She must 
introduce a system of taxation on the property of her citi- 
zens. I am sensible there is a very perceptible difference 
in the Liberians on their farm lands, in getting a living, 
and having wherewith to be taxed, to add to a State reve- 
nue. The difference is seen in their industry, their judg- 
ment in things raised, and their discretion in using their 
means. All have to clear lands, build houses, and culti- 
vate the ground; but some raise what will grow in the short- 
est time, for food, and give a surplus to sell, to get clothing 
for the family, and to meet a thousand and one family wants; 
while others raise other articles that enable them to add to 
their improvements and comforts yearly. This class can pay 
tax for government, school, or church purposes. Often I 
found the question well balanced in the minds of some, what 
is it best to raise to make it easier for me to get a support? 
The man is not perplexed in mind that a yoke of oxen and a 
plow would open up his way to farming, or that if he had a 
coffee orchard, he would have a certain income from his land. 
The question for him to solve is, who will buy my arrow root 
and ginger, and give me the cash to buy my oxen and plow, 
and coffee plants? Here is the shoal that many want to get 
over. This is a subject I have talked over with farmers in 
Liberia. At first, my amazement at their farming, and at 
what the land would give in repay, when properly cultiva- 
ted, led me to censure them. But the more I considered their 
position, I lessened my censure. Barter will keep the farm- 
ers down in Liberia. Money for what can be exported, is 
what the people need in Liberia, to have exports brought into 
market. Here is the rub. Who will remove the cause? Good 
policy requires that special attention should be paid to the ex- 
penditure of money belonging to some emancipated servants 
going to Liberia. It is not every such emigrant that should 
have the disposal of his money in Baltimore, or after landing 
in Liberia. Such persons should have their money placed in 
the hands of a judicious man, and one who is trustworthy, 
and who lives in or near to the settlement the emigrant set- 
tles in. Such a person should advise with the emigrant to 
use his own labor in clearing his land, putting up his house, 
and in planting out his farm, that his money may be the less 



180 LIBBRIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

drawn on for these things. But if he will not, by hii own 
labor, assist, let these things be done with his money, and 
the wife and children be placed, as soon as possible, in the 
house. Then the rations of the family can be drawn; and, 
like the North Carolina woman, they have something from 
the land that will assist the family to live. This friend acts 
in what will be a profitable investment on the land. Such an 
individual should be required to make a report at the end of 
the six months, to the American Society, through the Probate 
Court of the county he resides in, how he has expended the 
money; and the American Society should forward the report, 
or a copy of it, to the State Society that sent the emigrants out 
to Liberia. The person exercising this trust should receive 
five per cent, on the money placed in his hands. This plan 
I laid before four of the leading men in Liberia, just before 
I left that country, and I was gratified that they approved of 
it as judicious and practicable, if the right men could be in- 
duced to act. 

5. Liberia should pay more attention to the condition of 
the natives living within her political jurisdiction. Her in- 
terests require that their labor, and their influence, and their 
habits should be under the direct influence of civilization. 
The laws in regard to their rights between Liberian and na- 
tive are good, but there is no legislative action that shows 
system, or the use of means to bring them into a state of in- 
dustry. I could not see, nor learn what measures the govern- 
ment liad in operation to draw them into the enjoyment of her 
civil privileges. It is true the natives who come into the set- 
tlements could see a body of people like unto themselves, in 
color and features, dressed, and with usages that are com- 
mendable to them for their adoption. And it is also true that 
in many families male and female natives are employed to 
work. But there appears not a feeling of common brotherhood to- 
ward them. They are not considered in the light as a part 
and parcel to be grafted into their good olive tree as soon as 
it is practicable for the good of both parties. I have long 
thought that the black man did not exhibit that deep toned 
piety that gave utterance in self-dedication to missions to his 
own race in a heathenish state. This statement is certainly 
worthy of examination. When I was in Liberia I could but 
notice it on the part of the Liberians as a body toward the na- 
tives. How many of those who were living in families were 
clothed? How many of them were clothed for the Sabbath, 
and taken to the church for public worship ? I would not judge 
harshly. But I fear that cheap pay, and that pay not regu- 
lated by the rule, do unto them as you would they should do 
unto you, has much to do with the employment of the na- 



UlSAU, AS X FOUND XT. 181 

tivei, and not their social and moral Improvement. The 
friends of colonization have a right to hope, and do expect^ 
that the presence of Liberia in her government, and political 
and religious institutions, and intercourse with the natives, 
whatever that intercourse may be, will cause them in some 
feeble sense, at least, to say in their hearts, " who hath be- 
gotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am 
desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath 
brought up these? Behold, I was left alone ; these, where 
have they been." It is laid upon Liberia in her gratitude to 
God for her Christianity, and she is bound, in honor and love 
to the church, to show that the Missionary laboring among 
the natives has in her expressed life, and in her bowels of 
love toward the natives, a most cordial, steady, and regular 
assistance to teach the African to believe in God. 

6. It is a question deserving of the most calm and prayerful 
consideration, whether the church in her different Missionary 
Societies should not act more definitely and distinctly for the 
evangelizing of the natives in Liberia. I would speak with 
great deference on this subject. The Liberians and the na- 
tives are living in the same country, as two distinct classes 
of persons, in their language, their education, their religion, 
their habits, their customs, their dress, and their aims of life. 
What is used for the benefit of one class cannot be used for 
the other class, without important modifications. A minister 
to make full proof of his ministry to the Liberian, must live 
among the Liberians. A missionary to labor for the conver- 
sion of the natives to Christianity and civilization, must live 
in the tribe, and see that the day school, and sanctuary insti- 
tutions are bearing directly and systematically upon parents 
and children. He should be " among them as a nurse who 
cherisheth her children." As the natives are undressed, they 
cannot in that state be taken to Liberian churches to attend 
on the worship of God — nor can undressed children attend 
the same school with Liberian children. Christianity is in- 
separably connected with whatever tends to modesty in man- 
ners, and the protection of virtue. Paul says, " I will, that 
women adorn themselves in modest apparel." Native women 
must be gathered in their own churches on the Sabbath for 
the worship of God. Speaking after the manner of men, 
upon their elevation depends the elevation of the men and 
children of their tribes. My surprise was great when I found 
what Foreign Missionaries were in Liberia. They were 
ministers, with two or three exceptions, who had charge of 
Liberian congregations. They lived in the midst of their con- 
gregations. Some of them regularly, others occasionally went 
in the afternoon of Sabbat hy a few miles to a half town of natives, 



182 LIBKRIA, A^ T POUND tT, 

or a full town as the case may be, and preached througk 
an interpreter, and returned to his family. Now and then, 
one went some ten or fifteen miles and spent a few weeks 
to labor, where a school under the charge of a native 
was established, and the return to his family was generally 
followed with secular business, and preaching to a Liberian 
congregation on the Sabbath. It is due to the Episcopal 
Church to say, she is acting more directly in Foreign Missions 
among the natives, than either of the other Boards I have re- 
ferred to. And yet //e?* ministry is found in part, ministers of 
Liberian congregations as much so as other ministers are. 
I do not say, nor would imply, that the Ministers of the Gos- 
pel in Liberia are not doing a good work in preaching, and in 
teaching schools among their brother Liberians. Nor do I 
say, nor would I imply, that the minds of white missionaries 
in Liberia are not deeply impressed with the condition of 
the natives; and that their action through the schools of Li- 
berians, is regarded by them as a wise and salutary means of 
good. I wish to speak commendably of the ministry in Li- 
beria. It is due to th«m. But their labor is of a too domes- 
tic character with Liberians, to have a Foreign Mission bear- 
ing on the natives. The natives do not get that notice an 
heathens, to be brought to the knowledge of the truth, as their 
numbers and position, and relation to God and the Liberians, 
and to the interior tribes, demand. Let any one take the 
the Reports of the Boards, and read the names of the places 
named as the stations of the ministers, and he will find, with 
the exception of some of the Epicopalian Missionaries, the 
places are settlements of Liberians. I state these facts for 
no other object than that it may be duly considered whether 
the natives should not share in the distribution of the funds 
of the Boards, more largely in men and money than they 
have received. 

7. The acknowledgment of the independence of Liberia 
by the United States Government would be a great benefit 
to Liberia. Such an acknowledgment would not injure or 
weaken any state right to the sleive institution in it. Libe- 
ria, or some such place, must exist. And the better it can 
be justly commended to the free colored people, they will the 
more readily take up their abode in it. And as masters will 
be found every year setting free their servants, it is desirable 
and best that they should send their servants to Liberia. The 
interest of both white and black, demands this separation. 
Beside, this acknowledgment of Liberia on the part of our 
government, would have great influence on many American 
traders on the coast of Liberia. They would by treaty stand 
in a position they ought to stand in with other competing 



LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 183 

traders. It would also express to the natives, our recogni- 
zance of Liberia's rights to carry into execution all of her 
laws that are consistent with the laws of nations. And the 
Liberians would feel there was a feeling of sympathy for 
them in the land of their birth, where they and their fathers 
toiled for the benefit of the States. 1 think I may say the 
Liberians love the American people. I heard not a word of 
complaint, or reproach, or execration, of our people. It will 
be no loss to us in commerce or dignity, to make this ac- 
knowledgment, while the act will be beneficial to Liberia. 
And if the government would give to Liberia a small armed 
steamer, it would be of great service to her. 1. It would 
enable her to take from one point to another point on her 
coast, her troops in case of war, sooner than a sail vessel can 
do it, subject to the frequent calms on the coast. 2. The 
presence of the steamer would show to the natives on the 
coast how readily the Liberian government can pass her eye 
over them, and spy out any movement they may be making 
against her citizens. 3. It would strengthen the navigation 
and revenue laws, by causing a more strict compliance to 
them on the part of traders, who find they are watched by a 
steamer that can be near them "at an hour when they think 
not." 4. It would keep all the coast of Liberia under a full 
watch that a slaver could not per chance get a slave from a 
tribe. 

8. The Liberians are most decidedly in the advance of the 
natives. It would be an outrage to our character; to the chris- 
tian religion, and the benefits of education, to think it was not 
so ; while it would be speaking an untruth about the Liberi- 
ans to hint it was not true. It is wrong to attempt a compar- 
ison to show a likeness between them in manners, habits, 
and degradation of life. The Liberians need a better system 
of agriculture, a more steady action in getting into a state of 
independence of missionary aid ; but the natives need a new 
modeling altogether in their civil, social, moral, and political 
state. I made particular inquiry in the different counties, and 
learnt that twenty of the Liberians, from the commencement 
of the colony to the present time, had gone among the na- 
tives to live as they lived. This out of 11,172 emigrants 
is not expressive of retrograding to heathenism. 

9. It is important that the American Society, and the dif- 
ferent State Societies, should have Liberia more distinctly 
under their eye as to where the emigrants they send out should 
acclimate, and what facilities are at hand for them to go on 
to their land. The Receptacle should be near at hand to 
where they will dwell. The emigrants land in Liberia gen- 
erally as strangers, and many of them inexperienced as to 



184 LIBERIA, AS I FOUND IT. 

how to get at what they need. Some of them have friends 
who are living where it is not desirable new comers should 
stop at and acclimate. Their persuasion ought not to be al- 
lowed to take the emigrant to his place. Much responsibility 
is thrown upon the executive officers of the Society. Great 
confidence is placed in their actions by masters, who, after 
much serious deliberation, have decided to send their ser- 
vants to Liberia, through the agency of the Colonization So- 
ciety. The emigrants stand in need of their care, their ad- 
vice, their patience, and their attention. I would not imply 
that the Societies do not give to them this notice. But 1 
speak thus that masters, and the colored people themselves, 
may know that this feeling is regai'ded to be necessary, and 
will be tenderly and faithfully exercised by the Agents of the 
Societies. The Colonization Society is a benevolent So- 
ciety. 

10. As to the propriety of sending emigrants to Liberia I 
have not a doubt on my mind. That it is the best home for 
them I do believe. That all the blacks promiscuously should 
go there who have the offer to go I do not think. That it is 
best for the emigrant, or for Liberia's advantage for numbers, 
that any should go with bare hands, I say no. But that the 
healthy, the industrious, the temperate, the enterprising, the 
moral, and christian blacks should go. I emphatically say, 
yes. The intemperate, unhealthy, vicious, idle, and care-for- 
nothing should not be sent, nor encouraged to go there. But 
whoever go6s should not have fixed in his mind he will find 
there his old home and associations surrounding him. For it 
is a new country. Back from the coast, (the part of Liberia 
the farmers should settle,) acclimation will be milder. Cape 
Palmas is the best point on the coasts in my opinion, for new em- 
igrants to go, without Blue Barre, at the mouth of the Sinoe 
river, is made as ettlement. Cape Mount is a high and healthy 
location, but it needs farm land for farming emigrants to 
settle on. Take Liberia as a whole, for climate, soil, water, 
productions, and adaptedness to the black race, I can honest- 
ly apply Isaiah, xxxev, 17, to the blacks in our land and to 
Liberia : " He hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath 
divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it forever, 
from generation to generation, shall they dwell therein." 



ERRATA. 

On 20th page, Sth line from top, insert, and one family. 
On 118th page, 18th line from top, for inthee, r«ad feet. 



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LIBERIA, 



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IN 1858. 



BY 



REV. ALEXANDER M. COWAN 

AGENT KENTUCKY COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 



[Copv-right entered accor'Jiog to law, in the Kentucky District Clerk's 
Office, June 7th 1858.] 



FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY. 

A. G. HODGES, PRINTER, 

1858. 




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